Can’t wait for the first appearance of star footballer

THIS week the media was busy covering the return of Gareth Bale to Tottenham Hotspur from Spain.

The welcome messages that ring out from genuine supporters has never really changed from the moments of my first such news, but then at a much slower rate rather than regarding a player as “The King of Wales”.

My first news lines were every time a player who had been fighting the Germans in WW2, returned to White Hart Lane, it was a case of ‘so pleased to see you and thanks for the last five years’. No real money was involved, we were just thankful that they had survived at the same time remembering those who did not make it.

There were always big name arrivals of players moving clubs in the late 40s and 50s and a fee was in mere hundreds of pounds, creeping up to the odd thousand.

Tottenham is my birth place – 500 yards from the boys entrance.

Then we got to the late 50s and spent high fees on Dave Mackay, John White and Bill Brown, adding them to Cliff Jones and Terry Medwin, two wonderful Welshmen.

After the first double in 100 years was achieved, it got to December 1962 and Spurs went to Italy to sign Jimmy Greaves, to us the finest English goal scorer, for fee of £99,999. Bill Nicholson did not want his purchase to be the first six-figure fee.

We were always causing surprises in the transfer market, and perhaps the purchase of two Argentine players, Ardiles and Villa, caused sensational headlines straight after Argentina had won the World Cup.

Paul Gascoigne, Waddle, Sherringham, Klinsmann, Chivers, Mullery, Mike England and Berbatov are just a few of those headline fillers we had at Tottenham, and far too many to use to fill a letter.

The saddest thing is the way costs have risen dramatically for the ordinary supporter. At Spurs they will be relishing the return of Gareth Bale and the fact that he is Welsh and British makes a nice change for UK football. Cannot wait for his first appearance.

Alan J Nunn St Austell

Bovine TB is down to cattle, not badgers

GREAT to see Martin Hancox in the letters extra Western Morning News this week. Some clearly presented facts showing that bTB is down to cattle and not badgers. Badgers pick up TB from cattle as they forage in the fields. As I write this, there will be caged badgers innocent of any crime waiting for the shooter to arrive to dispatch them. Their stress at being trapped above ground in daylight will be huge and they will be frantically trying to dig themselves down into the ground through the cage, damaging their limbs as they do this.

Yes, evidence of this has been found. They will be shot and bagged next to the free shot badgers that were found and picked up last night. How many badgers will have crawled away from the free shoot fiasco and possibly still lay in agony and face a long slow painful death?

They try to make it home to their setts or will lie under a hedge if their legs had been paralysed by the shots. Early injured badger patrollers may find them.

Do be courageous and keep a look out in your countryside as you walk the paths, be vigilant to what is happening and you will no doubt be rewarded for doing so.

Jo Smoldon Bridgwater, Somerset