Gary Andrew Speed, MBE, was a Welsh professional footballer and manager. He played for Leeds United, Everton, Newcastle United, Bolton Wanderers and Sheffield United. Speed captained the Wales national football team until retiring in 2004. He held the record for the most appearances in the Premier League at 535, until it was surpassed by David James in 2018. Speed died by suicide in February 2013, aged 46.
About Gary Speed in brief
Gary Andrew Speed, MBE, was a Welsh professional footballer and manager. He played for Leeds United, Everton, Newcastle United, Bolton Wanderers and Sheffield United. Speed captained the Wales national football team until retiring in 2004. He held the record for the most appearances in the Premier League at 535, until it was surpassed by David James in 2018. Speed was appointed manager of Sheffield United in 2010, but left the club after a few months in December 2010 to manage the Wales team. He died by suicide 11 months later at the age of 46. Speed played for the Leeds United youth team before joining the club as a trainee in June 1988. He made his first team debut aged 19 in a goalless draw against Oldham Athletic in the Football League Second Division. He went on to play in nine out of the ten outfield positions, although he was predominantly a left-sided player. In September 1992, Speed was pivotal in Leeds’ UEFA Champions League first-round tie against VfB Stuttgart, scoring one of their goals. He was selected in the PFA Team of the Year for the 1992–93 season. Before transferring to Everton, Speed played in 312 games for the club, scoring 57 goals, before being sold to Newcastle United for £5.5million in 1998. He also played for West Ham United, West Bromwich Albion, Aston Park Rangers and Bolton Wanders. Speed died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head in February 2013. He had been suffering from depression for some time, and had been diagnosed with an undiagnosed heart condition in the months before his death.
His funeral was held at St James’ Park in London on February 14, 2013. His family are from Mancot, Flintshire, Wales, and he was a keen cricketer and cricket player. He supported Everton as a youngster, and played for Flintshire Schoolboys, a local boys’ team. While at school, he was employed as a paperboy and played in a local Boys’ team, and for Aston park Rangers. Speed’s last game for Everton was on 18 January 1998, scoring in a 3–1 win over Chelsea. He did not travel for their next game against West Ham because he did not want to miss their away game against Chelsea. In November of that year, Speed scored a hat-trick – the only one of his career – as Everton beat Southampton 7–1 at Goodison Park. He finished the season with 11 goals, joint-topscorer with Duncan Ferguson. In the start of the 1997–98 season, Speed and Howard Kendall succeeded Royle as the manager at the club. However, the relationship between Speed and Kendall had soured by the turn of the year, and Speed was never revealed as the club’s captain. He later left Everton for Newcastle United and was subsequently sold to West Ham. Speed won the English First Division championship in 1991–92, as part of a midfield that also comprised Gordon Strachan, Gary McAllister and David Batty – former manager Eddie Gray considered it to be one of the greatest midfield line-ups in the modern era.
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