In fact, the 30-year-old has been made to feel quite welcome at his new club.
“It’s been really good, I feel more welcome than I was expecting coming from Waitakere,” he says.
“Initially it was really difficult to change allegiances but there have been a lot of changes at Waitakere as well, which has made it a little easier to be honest.”
However he admits the transition may not continue to be so smooth when Auckland City encounters his old team during the ASB Premiership which begins on November 3.
The fierce rivals will also clash prior to that when they meet in the Charity Cup at Waitakere’s Fred Taylor Park on October 28.
“We are playing them twice pretty early on so it will be good to get all that out of the way and concentrate on just playing. I’m quite mentally strong so I can deal with all the flak that I’m going to get,” Bale says.
While the current focus is the premiership, Auckland City will be heading to the FIFA Club World Cup Japan in December, Bale’s third after attending with Waitakere twice before.
“The first time I think the occasion got to us a bit and the second we did pretty well against Adelaide,” the midfielder says.
“Actually they were both in Japan as well so I guess I’ve been trying to get back there ever since.”
While Bale says it is too early to make any predictions for either the World Cup or the premiership, he is enjoying training and playing under Auckland City coach Ramon Tribulietx.
“He’s very methodical,” he says.
“He puts a lot of effort into what he does and he doesn’t leave anything uncovered so it’s good. And I haven’t had that for a while to be honest so I’m enjoying it.”
A modest Bale says he isn’t exactly sure what he is bringing to the club besides being one of the older members of the squad.
“I guess maybe I’ll bring a bit of experience, energy and a work rate that may be something different to what they’ve had in previous years – I hope,” he says.
Bale opened his goal scoring account with Auckland City during the 15-0 win in the community pre-season friendly against an All Refugees XI last weekend.
The pre-season campaign continues this Saturday with a friendly against an Auckland-based U-20 selection at the Croatian Club in Henderson, kick-off is at 2pm.

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