I know there are a few football (round ball edition) fans on here. Gary Speed, manager of the Wales international team, was found dead at his home this morning. Reported to be suicide.
This is awful news. Speed was a great footballer, and seemed to be making a reasonably successful career in management. This appears to be completely out of character - I’m sure we’ll find out more in due course.
He was one of my favourites in the 1991/92 Leeds United team that won the English league, during my brief spell of actually following an English team. That was a great midfield - Strachan (a huge hero of mine), McAllister, a very young Speed, and Wilcox (I think). He also played for Wales, Newcastle United, Everton, Bolton Wanderers and Sheffield United.
Yes very shocking, he was one of the best players in the earlier Premeirship years.
It’s also hard to fathom why he killed himself, as professionally at least he seemed like someone on the up. He had just started coaching and in fact right at this current point was doing very well indeed, I can’t remember last time Wales were playing this well.
I was staggered to hear this - so sad and it sounds like no one can understand it. He was the quintessential model pro - that phrase was always used about him, he always seemed so sorted by the standards of modern players.
I saw him play a fair bit at Everton in the late 90s. He was the best player in the squad by a distance, but the club was falling apart at that time so he left and we only had him for 2 seasons I think. Great player and leader on the park. RIP Gary
Speed loved Everton and when he left, he said, there is a reason but to reveal the reason would sully the name of the club and I am not doing that. Check out Richard Williams’ obit in The Guardian where the reason is revealed.
Great is an over used word. Speed was a very good footballer but, by all accounts, a great man - with a strong sense of duty and right vs wrong (as can be seen in the above incident). Something doesn’t feel right about this. The guys on Match of the Day 2 were talking about how they’d spoken to him yesterday - he was talking about how he was going out for a meal with his family and was seemingly “up” after filming Football Focus. Either something deep was going on and he was good at hiding it or something terrible must have happened - suicide just seems so drastic in the space of 24 hours. I can only hope there is nothing untoward - the police currently say nothing suspect about the death though.
Surprised to see Williams write that tbh. Kendall has always benefited from journalists never explicitly mentioning his alcoholism. A bit like Clough, only more so as Howard left the game before it became very obvious that he had a problem.
Kendall won’t be happy to read that, but that is a minor point in the face of such a tragedy. It is a nice illustration of Speed’s integrity - If he had spoken of that at the time it would have made the club a laughing stock. Also ended Kendall’s career, but that would have been a mercy killing at that time.
Missed the edit, I also missed the fact he doesn’t mention Everton or Kendall by name, so it’s not an explicit reference. Very obvious though (and in fact an open secret to Everton fans).
Has it struck anyone else that the reporting has been a bit reserved on this? I’ve not seen a single article use the word suicide, even though they have all stated he was found hanged. The police have said that there were no suspicious circumstances, but it all seems a little odd. Was he known to suffer from depression? I know it is an unpredictable condition, but is it usually for it to come on so fast, and when someone’s life and career seem to be going fairly well? From all accounts, none of his friends had any idea.
There have been rumours of a potential ‘outing’ by the British tabloids. Some suggestions that the Sun had strong evidence of Speed being gay. Of course, these are only rumours and maybe speculating is wrong at this time. But so much mention of it across the internet, maybe it will come out soon.
Regardless, it’s terribly sad that someone (anyone) feels so helpless and lost that they feel their only option is to end it all. Maybe the only good that can be gained from such sad news is that it brings into the public eye the issue of depression and suicide, issues that are massively misunderstood in Britain.
I’m a Leeds fan and so obviously a big fan of Gary’s. Such a pivotal player for us and as we can see he was very highly thought of.
My wife mentioned offhand that it seemed like a quiet time in his life (internationally speaking) and that if there was a major relationship revelation then now would be the time to air it.
All conjecture of course but it certainly seems like it had to be single, catastrophic issue rather than an ongoing depressive illness. Certainly, the words of others don’t paint him as a depressive character but who knows what goes on behind the scenes.
As for the Sun “gay” rumour. Well, the tabloid press over here can’t sink much lower but if they are found to have any hand in this I think the public will crucify them. And I’ll gladly pass them the nails and hammer.
Errr…have you been living in a cave for the last 12 months or something? I have no evidence that any newspaper was involved in Gary Speed’s death, but that is like saying ‘If you don’t like child pornographers, don’t buy any child pornography’
