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Leeds United's Gary Speed: An Inspiration
One minute you’re running round a park training with 20 young footballers and the next you have to pull over to cry your eyes out...
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- RIP Gary Speed
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- RIP Gary Speed
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- RIP Gary Speed
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- RIP Gary Speed
One minute you’re running round a park training with 20 young footballers and the next you get back to your car and find texts and calls coming into your phone telling you a Leeds United player you know and admire is dead. You drop the boys off home and then sit by the side of the road crying your eyes out. If ever there was a player you could point to as a role model it was Gary Speed. Maybe one of those kids I train, or the boys they play against, or any other kid running over muddy parks all over the country this morning will become as great a footballer and sportsman as Gary Speed. That’s what you hope for, but they’ll have to go some way to achieve that.
Right now twitter, sky sports and 5Live are over-run with the outpouring of grief for this admirable man. Many are assuming, in the vacuum of details and in the light of Stan Collymore’s open portrayal of his depression, that Speedo was depressed. But as far as I know that’s just speculation, whatever has lead Gary to take his life is probably more personal than illness.
Last night I was stood in the Leeds United manager’s office at Elland Road with Simon Grayson and my two closest Leeds United supporting friends. One of them is Gary’s friend and agent. All four of us have known Gary Speed to differing degrees. None of us could have predicted that 12 hours later Gary would be found dead at home by his wife, Louise. The manager’s area, reception, and players lounge at Elland Road are covered with pictures of the great players who made their names under Don Revie, Howard Wilkinson and David O’Leary. It wasn’t always that way, when Howard Wilkinson, arrived at the club at the end of the 1980s he insisted they take down the images of the Revie legends who were proving too great a team for subsequent groups of players to measure themselves against.
It was Wilkinson’s aim to create a new generation of players who would create a name for themselves. Gary Speed was a vital, vibrant part of the success Wilkinson steered the club to. Of all the pictures of the great Jack Charlton, free-kick expert Ian Harte, midfield dynamo David Batty, and the images of the British Forces soldiers in their Leeds kits the one I looked at longest yesterday was the group image of Howard Wilkinson’s squad celebrating their winning the old League Division One championship.
If Batty was the tenacity in that great midfield, Speed was the pace and the cutting edge, McAllister was the passer, Strachan pulled the strings, but it was Speedo streaking forward with the ball that was the youthful threat the team needed. With Batts, Speedo represented the present and also the future. His recent success after a wobbly start as the Welsh national football manager has given similar hope and optimism to a nation for whom footballing success has been sparse. He was instrumental in helping Leeds United recapture glory and there’s few who could argue that he hadn’t started something significant with his young Welsh team.
If Batty was the tenacity in that great midfield, Speed was the pace and the cutting edge
Back in the early 90s at Elland Road some fans would mock Speedo for growing his hair long, he could have come out in a pink afro for all I cared, so long as he made up the fourth place in the fantastic midfield line-up and carried the game to the opposition like he did. His friend Ryan Giggs might have had that added elan to his play that won him the extra-attention but Speed was pretty much the all-round midfielder, as reflected in the quality of clubs he played for and the men like Alex Ferguson and Fabio Capello who coveted him. When I think of Gary on the pitch I think of a player who works and runs constantly, who can score all sorts of goals.
Those who knew Gary Speed very well, his friends and colleagues in and out of football, are as shocked as the rest of us who simply admired him. But it didn’t matter if you played for Wales, Manchester United or were just a fan of football he would have time for you. He was an inspiration. Everyone who ever met him will tell you what a nice guy he was but that’s the word I would use Inspiration.
We are so often taught to respect our elders that it becomes strange when the footballers in the team you support are younger than you and you find yourself admiring them. Go on twitter or turn on the TV and you will see new and old quotes from the greatest British footballing talent of the last 25 years paying tribute. Sky will be telling you about his appearance records, transfer fees and fitness. I will leave them to deliver the stats and quote the tributes.
For me this is more personal. I’ve been where his family are right now. My mum took her own life in February 1992 and when Leeds won the League that year it was the first time I felt happy. Maybe that’s why I’m still sitting here in tears. Speed was part of something that’s bigger than just football results and performances. He contributed to something that made people feel their lives were better because of it. He was a good man who was good to people and you can’t really ask for any more than that. Most suicides leaving you feeling ‘it’s just not right’ but some deaths are sadly inevitable. Gary Speed’s wasn’t, his death is truly shocking and has rocked the world of football and beyond. He will be painfully missed by those that knew him, those that enjoyed what he gave to the world of sport and for those young kids legging it round the parks this morning hopefully his passing will prompt them to take some time to find out about him.
People like Gary are the reason I still play football, still travel hundreds of miles to watch my team, still get up in the rain and go and train ten year olds after 6 hours sleep. They are what is great about football. He played to the best of his ability and with enthusiasm. Gary Speed was a good man I admired. I can’t say any more than that.
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Lovely tribute James. x
A lovely piece mate.
A fitting tribute had me in tears. Still in shock and upset by this. Football has lost a true gent,ambassador and a great manager
A touching tribute.
Thank you James.
Wonderful tribute - as a proud North Walian and lifelong Leeds fan this is particularly shocking. I remember Gary's debut for Leeds and the vitality and vigour he gave that wonderful midfield. He was shaping a very young Welsh side in his image and the respect from those players for the man spoke volumes. RIP Gary.
brought tears to the eyes, huge shock to us all, football has lost a very special person. Lovely tribute James, thanks.
Great tribute, I'm Welsh, thought it was some sort of sick joke or elaborate hoax. Sadly not. It's been a very strange day.
Great words, very apt. I met Gary Speed at a golf day a few years back. A handsome, intelligent, humble man who had a natural ability to put everyone at ease. He was a tremendous pro and a budding young manager. This news really doesn't make any sense.
Wonderful tribute. To a truly great man. May he rest in peace
Lovely words about a true Leeds legend. Gary Speed oozed dignity in everything he did.
Great tribute James... Leeds Fans planning to sing a Gary Speed song for 11 minutes at 15:11 against Forest n Millwall. Pass it on. RIP SPEEDO...
Very moving tribute to him. I didn't know him, I'm not Welsh, and I didn't support any of the clubs he was affiliated with, but I am so upset by this. I am just left with a feeling of desolation.
Beautifully written. A terrible day, still feeling numb. Tragic news and awful circumstances and it's all so hard to take in. He was a fellow boyhood and lifelong Evertonian, but I know how much you guys revered him over the Pennines. We've all lost someone very special to us today, but we will recover. Let's spare our thoughts for his family and close friends, for whom it will take a long time to heal their wounds and sorrow.
I was really shocked when found out... Terrible, terrible news. The horrible question is Why? I will really miss him - a good and decent man in a game that has few of his calibre and character. Tears were shed at Anfield today, and a good few were mine.
Really really sad news to wake up to. That's a lovely tribute James. Being too young for the great 70's side, he was one of the best players I saw in the white shirt. Even when he left and played for other sides it was a pleasure to watch him, he oozed class and there was that sense of decency about him so sadly lacking in the modern day player. He'll be truly missed. Nic
Fantastic tribute to a sensational player! It's sad to think that Speed was on television looking happy yesterday , however today he felt the need to take his life. RIP<3
Still a bit weepy. Great tribute James !!
Proper tribute for a proper player.
A wonderful footballer and a hero to any young kids who love our game, the model professional and as an Everton fan a brother from the terraces.....gutted
A very heartfelt, moving and tearful tribute James. Thank you for this and keep Gary's spirit alive within the kids that you take time to teach and enjoy the game of which Gary was born to do! :-)
James, such a well written and heartfelt piece. Adam i'll be at the Millwall game but in the other end and will be singing along with you, lets hope all of the Millwall supporters show the same respect. RIP Gary Speed
Lovely tribute. I'm biased as he was a true Leeds United Legend (and fan), but happy to know that his skills were shared amongst other clubs like Sheffield Utd, Everton, Bolton and Newcastle and above all his country of Wales. Today was the first day I shed a tear in a very long time in hearing this sad news. RIP Gary you will be missed by many and many more to come.
Thanks. Thanks for saying what I can't articulate. The Trent End are ready. We'll join in, Adam.
A lovely tribute for one of the greats
Lovely moving tribute James. What awful demons must have been running round in his head to have forced him to take such extreme and tragic measures to erase them. RIP Gary Speed. Thank you for all the memories, Michael Michaelson
I'm a 19 year old Leeds fan. Born in 1992, I've been watching games with my dad for as long as I can remember. Gary speed was the first player I looked up to. I always heard stories of how great of a man he was, and it was blatant on and off of the pitch. I cried when I read the news this morning. I cried reading this great piece. Football has lost a great man, who leaves behind standards impossible for any other to match. RIP Garry. We love you. MOT.
A beautiful tribute to a lovely man, God Bless You Gary Speed from Adam MUFC
Thanks Gary for all you did for Leeds United. MOT.
As a young boy from Australia, on trial at Leeds United, I was lucky enough to have spent a considerable time with the legends at Leeds. Gary Speed along with David Batty, Gordon and Vinnie, were all legends to look up to. Gary your goals and inspiration will live on. RIP Gary from Melbourne Australia
Marching on together. RIP!
Lovrly tribute, Still in tears from yesterday! World has lost a true gent! Rip Speado from a Proud Welsh, Leeds United fan<3
beautifully written. mufc wales
Roughly 24 hours after first hearing this awful news I am still struck by the same thoughts: - Gary Speed was the first Leeds player, where I saw the whole span of his career. I saw his first Leeds goal against Bradford in 1990, and I saw him play for Sheff Utd just before he retired. When you grow up you assume footballers will always be older than you, but Gary Speed was undeniably just 'one of us'. - compared to some of the dislikeable premiership players that are eulogised in the press so lovingly today, Gary Speed is the one player you hope that young kids can look up to. If he has a legacy please let it be his single-minded desire to improve himself, look after himself to make the most of his abilities and to look out for others. Whatever is inevitably discovered about the reasons for his death I hope this is never forgotten in the aftermath. We have seen so many current pro's talking about how they admire and look up to him and I really hope this isn't effected by what and how this has happened. - Speed's death has truly shocked and baffled me in many different ways. We see deaths of players, managers, actors, comedians etc all the time and they always resonate on some level, but like James says, this is close to home because Speed represented an era that effected me. In a positive way. Speed effected my life, he did things that have enriched my life and thousands of others, he created moments I will never forget and will probably never be able to re-create. He did that, and that will never change. I will never forget the chilling feeling I had yesterday when I first heard the news that still seems totally unreal. I could do nothing yesterday and I still can't concentrate on anything today, but I truly hope we can use Speed's achievements and principles to teach kids and maintain his memory, because it will be a long time before we are fortuitous enough to have another figure to be rightfully compared to him. Bless you Gary Speed.
Fantastic tribute to a fantastic player.. RIP Gary. We will miss you as will the rest of the football world.
That was beautiful James.
I'm a Chinese Leeds fan . RIP Gary
My parents are welsh so i always use to go and watch wales at the millenium stadium , Speed was the man everyone knew it and everyone felt it. Midfield general or at times defensive general. Brings tears to the eyes. May you rest in peace Gary Speed ( a true legend).
Thank you James,did you see the Bryn Law interview at Elland Rd? Grief is a terrible but uniting factor for us, My heart is broken for this sad and needless loss, i cannot even imagine the battle he must have fought inside of him. He is a son of Wales and a family member of Leeds United and he is lost to us. Bye Gary, and thank you x
Fine piece of writing, James. Thanks man. He was a top player who gave his all for Newcastle United too. Desperately sad for his family, as it was and will always be for ours.
As a Leeds born Everton fan I had the pleasure of watching Gary play at Elland Road in what I consider to be one of the 'All-Time' great midfields of my generation and then in the colours of Everton the team we both supported. I liked Gary Speed when he was at Leeds, I was over-joyed when he signed for The Toffees. A sad sad time for football. Lets hope us Toffees at Goodison Park can go somewhere near to sounding like the Leeds fans made The City Ground sound like last night. Good Night Sir Gary Speed, R.I.P
Very well written. Speedo will always be remembered as part of the Leeds team the fans felt part of and as such will always hold special affection for.
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