Zidane sums up Real lack of class in bid to unsettle Bale

This is how Real Madrid tend to live their lives. As was shown by the £140m they spent on Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka in 2009, they are only interested in making headlines by flexing their financial muscle.

Yet there is something inherently wrong with a policy of excess that has failed to deliver such a monied club the Champions League trophy since France's 1998 World Cup winner Zinedine Zidane - now Real's outspoken sporting director - scored a fabled volley on a dank Glasgow night against Bayer Leverkusen in 2002. It was the last of their nine European Cups.

It remains difficult to paint Spurs as the corner shop taking on the might of a supermarket opening up on the next street, not when they are a Premier League concern contemplating flogging their main protagonist for a world record transfer fee of upwards of £100m, but one is suddenly rooting for them to reject all overtures in what is rapidly descending into a tedious fiasco shamelessly prompted by Madrid.

The Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy is rumoured to have left a bid of around £80m lying gathering dust on the table over the past week without responding to Real. It is said he will not consider selling until the Spanish club come up with a world record offer to top the £80m they paid to Manchester United for Ronaldo.

Let us hope his resolve can hold out because Real Madrid's conduct is shabby. They deserve to be exploited for every Euro they are willing to pay over the odds to land Bale. And it will be a serious waste of bread, no matter how good Bale is.

Their pathetic methods of trying to buy success at whatever cost does not take into account losing their own self-respect. Public tapping up of a player seems to be fair game as far as Real Madrid are concerned. UEFA should have a word, but its powerless president Michel Platini is probably having a lie down as those hoary old Financial Fair Play rules appear to go up in smoke.

Real care only for the end game. Take this little snippet from Zidane last night. It contained about as much class as his decision to butt Italian Marco Materazzi in the chest during the 2006 World Cup final.

“If he has expressed a desire to join Madrid, then Tottenham should give him permission to speak with us," said Zidane. "The chance to play for Real Madrid might only come around once in a player's lifetime - and it is understandable that Gareth doesn't want to miss out on it.

“He is already one of the finest players in Europe and he has everything needed to become the best player in the world. It is a bit of a cliche - but it is true you become a better player playing with better players.”

This sounds acceptable from Real's perspective, but there is only one problem about Zidane's sentiments: Bale is not a Real Madrid player. He belongs to Tottenham. He has three more years left on his contract at White Hart Lane. There should be more respect paid to Spurs.

Bale may want to join Madrid, but Spurs have every right to tell the player to be professional and honour his contract until they decide otherwise. Spurs was fine for him when he moved from Southampton for £7m in 2007, but players quickly forget.

Tottenham cannot do much if Bale tries to engineer a move to the Bernabeu by refusing to play, but one would hope the Welshman, only 24, has a bit more about him than that. You would certainly hope he has more respect for the Tottenham fans, but it seems not.

We know that the player's agent has been briefing media sorts about Real's bid. It would seem the only way for Levy to win this contest, and his personal joust with the Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, is to deposit a cheque of between £100-125m, a scenario that does not seem outlandish. But he must be exasperated by all these goings on. Spurs are not in dire need of the money. They could yet throw it out.

Real Madrid's newspaper mouthpiece Marca has informed the masses three times this week that Real were preparing a bid in excess of £80m. All of this is intended to destabilise the player, who apparently also has his parents speaking to Levy.

Leaked information by Real Madrid from Marca to increase speculation is standard practice, but they are cranking it up a few notches with Zidane's comments intended to flatter and unsettle. There was even a quote attributed to Bale telling the paper he wanted to join Madrid rather than Manchester United.

And to think the Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho was berated by some parties for shedding Real's reputation as some sort of 'Dignity FC' last season.

"(Carlo) Ancelotti is a great coach and a great person," said Napoli's new coach Rafael Benitez. "He will somehow manage to restore the values that have always been important at Madrid."

Mourinho is gone, but it is difficult to see what values Benitez was alluding to. When Real Madrid overcame Manchester City in the Champions League last year CNN ran the headline: Old money Real Madrid hold off nouveau riche Man City.

There is no old money in football. Only new money and newer money. Real may or may not get their man, but their tasteless pursuit of Bale has already reached poverty point.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “It’s important for the team and the fans to concentrate 100 per cent on football. It’s been a difficult time for me, the club and the fans. I’ve had some useful discussions with the club, my family and Islamic teachers in the past few weeks. After a huge amount of thought and reflection I have made the decision to follow my team-mates and wear the kit." Newcastle striker Papiss Cisse scores and wears the name of moneylenders Wonga on his shirt in a 2-0 friendly win at St Mirren.

FOREIGN VIEW: It looks like Elfsborg striker Mohammed Bangura, who is on loan from Celtic, will play against his parent club in tonight's Champions League qualifier. With no clause contained within the loan agreement to prevent the Sierra Leone international from featuring, Elfsborg coach Jorgen Lennartsson has said his club will do what is best for them. "He's not a taxi driver or a carpenter, he's a professional football player," Lennartsson added. "I've spoken to Mohammed several times and it has affected him, but he's a cool guy."

COMING UP:Eurobot is on his way into the office to discuss transfer speculation at 12:30pm (BST), Jim White is filing his latest column and we have LIVE coverage of Celtic against Elfsborg in the first leg of their Champions League third round qualifier at 7:45pm in Glasgow.