Gareth Bale, the Wales left-back whose early development was expertly monitored by George Burley at Southampton, has appealed to Scotland’s disgruntled support to give their manager more time to prove himself.

Bale, outstanding in both attack and defence for his country in their 3-0 victory at the Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday, was upset to hear Burley being vocally abused by the Tartan Army for the first time in his troubled tenure. The Tottenham player, who moved to White Hart Lane from the St Mary’s Stadium in a £10 m transfer back in 2007, has the utmost respect for his former coach’s abilities and knowledge.

The 20-year-old came under Burley’s guidance when he joined Southampton in 2006 and partially attributes his success in the game since then to the Scot. Bale believes if he is allowed to carry on in his role – and there are now serious doubts that he will be – for the Euro 2012 qualifiers then he will succeed in taking Scotland back to the finals of a major tournament.

“George is a great manager,” he enthused. “He brought me through as a young man and developed me as a player. He gave me the confidence in myself that I needed to push my career on to a new level.

“I have monitored his progress with Scotland and think he has done a good job there. They just missed out on qualification for the World Cup finals in the summer. Hopefully, he can continue in his role. I was surprised to hear the fans abusing George on Saturday. I think they must just have been angry at their team’s performance. But they just have to be patient as he is building a new team.

“I have got a lot of sympathy for him. We have been through a very similar process with Wales in recent years. It can be difficult, but I think that, in the long run, it all benefits you as players and as a team.

“When you are rebuilding a team and bringing through young players it is a difficult phase, but it is one that you have to go through to get the benefits in the future.”

Bale admitted both he and his Welsh team mates had been surprised by the comfortable margin which they won the friendly international against Scotland by. Three first half goals from David Edwards, Simon Church and Aaron Ramsey effectively sewed up a convincing triumph for John Toshack’s side over Burley’s team of bewildered Scots.

However, the defender also feels his national team, which was missing six key players, including Craig Bellamy, and had an average age of just 22, benefited from getting a few lucky breaks.

“We played well in the first half and created a lot of chances,” Bale reflected. “But I think that it was one of those games where whenever we shot at goal we scored. We were expecting a tough game and it was a tough game at times. Scotland started well and could have scored early on. If that had gone in it could have been a different game.”

Bale was in direct opposition to Alan Hutton, his fellow Tottenham player, and admitted he expected the right back to be on the receiving end of some good-natured banter when they return to training.

“I didn’t see Alan after the game to give him any stick, but I’m sure when we get back to Spurs there will be a fair bit of that going on,” he agreed.

Despite having his career at Spurs seriously disrupted by ankle and knee injuries in the last two years, Bale has been linked with a move to AC Milan this season. It was easy to see why a switch to Italy has been mooted watching his mature performance at the weekend.

He added: “I have not played a great deal this season so it was good to be involved for my country again at the weekend and to help them get such a good win.”