Sir Alex Ferguson was proven wrong after making Gareth Bale demand to Harry Redknapp

Gareth Bale went 24 games without being on the winning team when he was on the field for Tottenham, leading Sir Alex Ferguson to urge Harry Redknapp to drop the Welshman

Sir Alex Ferguson gave Harry Redknapp some advice

Sir Alex Ferguson urged Harry Redknapp to stop picking Gareth Bale when the Welshman endured an arduous period for Tottenham.

Bale is one of the players Ferguson regrets not signing for Manchester United. The Welshman hung up his boots in September 2023 and is considered one of the greatest British talents to grace the pitch.

But things did not always go smoothly at Tottenham for the Real Madrid legend, as he endured a notorious 24-game winless streak when he was on the pitch, either as a starter or as a substitute. During that time, Ferguson told Redknapp not to pick the then-youngster. Yet, the ex-Portsmouth and West Ham United manager ignored the Scotsman and was proven right to do so.

While speaking to Mirror Football on a visit to Kellogg's Football Camps – a UK-wide summer football programme for local kids – Redknapp said: "When I first got to the club, he had played 20 odd games and had never been on the winning team.

"I remember Alex saying to me: 'I wouldn't pick him, Harry, he is unlucky' because he had played around 24 games and had never ever been on a winning team, since he had been at Tottenham, which is an incredible record.

Gareth Bale endured an arduous period in his early years at Tottenham

"Not that it was his fault, it was just the way it had worked out. If he came off the bench, they didn't win, and if he started they didn't win. Eventually, we broke that voodoo and never looked back. His confidence grew and he became an amazing footballer."

Redknapp was the one who switched Bale from a full-back to a winger, leading to the Welshman becoming one of the finest attackers in the world. Redknapp was in the San Siro when Bale delivered an unforgettable performance against Inter Milan, scoring a hat-trick after Tottenham trailed 4-0 and were down to ten men at half-time.

"Over that period, he was the third-best player in the world, behind Messi and Ronaldo," Redknapp added. "He destroyed the best right-back in the world. Maicon was arguably the best right-back in the world at the time and Gareth almost finished his career.

"We brought them back to White Hart Lane and he destroyed them again. Maicon never recovered from that. Gareth just went on and got better and better. The whole world saw him that night and realised what a player that was."

Harry Redknapp gave a coaching masterclass to some young kids at Kellogg's Football Camps in Portsmouth

Ferguson has previously spoken about his regret of not signing Bale when he was still a promising youngster at Southampton. In 2013, the legendary Scotsman said: "We were disappointed in Southampton at the time because we were first there. But they never came back to us. It was not the boy who turned us down, it was Southampton.

"Then a few weeks later he signed for Tottenham Hotspur. He (Bale) was a left-back when we tried to sign him. It wasn't until Harry (Redknapp) went to Tottenham that he converted him into a wide left player."