THE DOUBTS WALES HAD ABOUT FUTURE LEGEND

BELIEVE it or not, Gareth Bale was overlooked for games by Wales Schools at the age of 15 - just a year before making his senior debut under John Toshack and going on to become the finest player most of us have seen pull on the red shirt.

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Ryan Giggs and Sir Alex Ferguson

In the Wales Schools team that year were Chris Gunter and Neil Taylor, who went on to become colleagues of Bale at senior level, plus Aaron Ramsey, at 14 a year younger than the rest but who was so special I’m told ‘he wanted to take the corners and head them in too!’

‘There were also a host of others chosen ahead of Bale, who fell by the wayside. Thankfully, the brushoff didn’t last. Bale was too good to keep down.

It should be pointed out his club Southampton also possessed the same doubts at the time.

“We were probably nine hours away from letting Gareth go as a free agent, which looking back seems utterly daft given what he went on to achieve,’ Southampton’s former Academy chief Malcolm Elias told me.

“His example offers hope to every budding young footballer out there. Never give up. Gareth Bale is the best evidence of that.”

‘The man in charge of that Welsh Schools team was Rob Sherman.

He defends the decision to ignore Bale (right), pointing out how Gareth put on close to 20 kilograms and five inches in the space ofa year.

Sherman reflects: “Gareth was always with us in the squad. We knew he was a highly intelligent and gifted player, but when you have parts of your body outgrowing other parts, it causes problems.

“Your coordination and balance goes. Back then, England and Northern Ireland were picking the biggest, fittest and strongest players; the game had started to head in that physical direction.

“We didn’t want to risk Gareth in that environment. I explained to him that the growth spurts troubling him at the time were quite normal for lots of teenagers and made sure I encouraged him by stressing ‘Don’t worry, you'll come through this’

“We always knew he would, it’s just that at the time he wasn’t able to execute things to the level he wanted to and which we knew he was capable of.