Bale - Times article

Apologies if already posted (behind a paywall); it ran on Sunday:

https://www.thetimes.com/sport/footb...-tan-wgv3z7730

Gareth Bale is hopeful that Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan will consider a new offer from the ownership group he is leading to buy the club.

Bale, the former Wales captain, is leading a group of investors hoping to buy the League One club, who were relegated from the Championship last season.

Their first offer of £40 million has been rebuffed but a new, improved bid has been submitted, and the consortium are now understood to be waiting on a response.

“First of all, I’m very excited to try and get Cardiff,” Bale told The Times. “Obviously, everybody knows how passionate I am about Wales, about Welsh football. I was born and raised in Cardiff. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to play for Cardiff.

“The next best thing now is to hopefully be a part of an ownership group. We’ve put in a new offer which we feel is a very, very good offer, especially where the club is at and what they have been doing. We’re hoping to get the deal done so we can hopefully take Cardiff back to the place where we all want it.”

Bale, 35, retired from football in January 2023 after a glittering career in which he won 18 trophies, including five Champions League titles with Real Madrid, as well as helping Wales to qualify for a first World Cup in 50 years, collecting 111 caps.

Bale’s consortium is waiting on a response to their second offer to buy the club from Tan
Bale has been working as a pundit for DAZN at the Club World Cup, and he said he has enjoyed venturing back into football after spending two years away from the sport.

“You spend so long doing one thing that sometimes it’s good to take a bit of time away and hit the reset button,” he said. “By doing this now, dipping my toe back in and watching a bit more football, you start to fall in love with it again. You start to get the better feelings and my son now is starting to play so it’s starting to be a bit more enjoyable than it was at the end of my career.”

Bale concluded his career after the 2022 World Cup, where he featured in all of Wales’s group matches against England, Iran and the USA. He says he could have carried on but retirement was a means to allow others to flourish for the national team.

“I think all the senior players felt a responsibility because we created this atmosphere in the changing room, that winning mentality. We were the ones who got across the line to qualify first and then we started repeating qualifying,” he said. “As the younger players came in, we felt a responsibility for them to learn off us and continue that atmosphere, continue that togetherness bond. I think that’s why I also felt comfortable retiring. I feel like we really did pass that on.

“I probably could have carried on, but I also want Wales to keep going in the right direction. I didn’t want to suppress someone’s chances. It was the right time for me to step back and it gives the other players the opportunity to play.”

He has been impressed with the start made by Craig Bellamy, his former team-mate, as Wales head coach. Bellamy went nine matches unbeaten, just one shy of the Wales record, before suffering a 4-3 defeat against Belgium last month despite recovering from three goals down during the game.

“I think he’s had an amazing start,” Bale said. “Coming in straight away, you knew the passion he has for football and for Wales and he was always that as a player as well. He wore his heart on his sleeve. I knew him going in would galvanise that squad.

Bellamy has enjoyed a fine start to life as Wales head coach, going nine matches unbeaten until their loss to Belgium
“He’s obsessed with football. He’s done an incredible job so far. They’re doing very well in qualifying so far. Obviously, they were a little bit unlucky against Belgium. They played an incredible game and then unfortunately got pipped at the end.”

The Club World Cup reaches its conclusion tonight when Chelsea face PSG in New Jersey. Bale has been out in the United States where the playing conditions, particularly regarding the heat, have been criticised. Chelsea’s Enzo Fernández said on Friday that he felt “dizzy” during the semi-final win over Fluminense, adding that the heat was “dangerous”.

“The heat is clearly an issue,” Bale said. “I think it’s not necessarily safe to play. It’s important to have those hydration breaks and making sure that players’ safety is first protocol. Obviously we’ve all played in these temperatures but it’s very difficult to do at the end of a season when you’ve had so many games.

“You won’t get the best football in these conditions because players’ bodies aren’t used to playing in this heat and running around for 90 minutes plus.”

Gareth Bale was speaking on behalf of DAZN before the Club World Cup final on Sunday, July 13.