Too Few Good Men

I am 27. By no means ‘old’ as a football supporter, I hear my elders talk with fondness of their favourite players from times gone by and wonder both how they would compare to my favourites, and what I would make of them.

Names like Billy Bremner, Kevin Keegan, Norman Hunter and Bobby Charlton are just a few players held in high regard by supporters of the teams they played for, or supporters that were able to see them play.

For me, as a child of the 80’s, I was first becoming obsessed with football around the start of the 1990’s, when the Premier League was first being introduced.

I remember collecting ‘Pro Set’ football cards, roughly the size of a credit card with a picture and short profile of each player in the top flight.

There was one that stood out to me when I got it. Not just because he had the look of a footballer. Perfect complexion and pin-up good looks.

No, because as I was becoming obsessed with the beautiful game I knew how good this guy was.

How hard he worked to ensure he could perform to the best of his ability and at the very highest level.

That man was Gary Speed.

A player often described as ‘industrious’ due to the fact that he would run and run all day long, but had an absolute peach of a left foot to go with it.

This was a long while before the introduction of sports science and all the associated changes that went with it when Arsene Wenger came to the Premier League.

This was a day in which a pre-match meal would consist of a Saturday morning fry-up, not the complex carbohydrates that are the norm now.

Because of the advances in technology and knowledge, massive changes were made to a footballer’s approach to the game which meant many fell by the wayside.

Gary Speed was different though. He was one of the very few who looked after himself before it became the done thing.

Having cut his footballing teeth alongside true professionals like Gordon Strachan and Gary McAllister at Leeds United, he learned how to respect the game and himself in order to have a long and successful career.

The fact that his 535 Premier League games was only recently surpassed by Ryan Giggs and David James is a testament to how hard Speed worked.

It’s no coincidence that he was very rarely injured.

He was also a truly nice guy, so I’ve heard. Unfortunately I was never lucky enough to meet the man myself but of the many thousands who did, I’ve never heard one story that painted him in anything other than a good light.

He always had time for fans, young or old, and would dedicate many hours of his time to visiting hospitals and schools to brighten the day of many people who met a ‘star’.

I’m not sure that Gary Speed ever really saw himself as a star, but make no mistake, he was. He was far more than that.

He was a legend.

That word is used far too often now to describe decidedly average footballers who have opinions of their ability far in excess of reality.

That is an insult to a player like Speed who went on to play nearly a hundred games for Wales, half of them as a very proud captain, and would later serve his country as manager up until his untimely death this weekend.

The reasons behind his alleged suicide are a mystery, and will undoubtedly remain so, however it seems there was some underlying mental problem that Gary was sadly never to get the help he needed.

I can only begin to imagine how his widow and two teenage boys are coping with the events of the last 24 hours. It should comfort them though that so many people who never met the man have felt such sadness at this awful news.

Mental health is a silent killer. Literally. Many before Gary Speed have suffered with depression and other mental illness but have been afraid, worse ashamed, to get help because of the draconian attitude toward mental health in this country.

Stan Collymore is apparently suffering a particularly bad bout at present, having suffered at the hands of depression in the past. I truly hope Stan can conquer his demons and feel good about life sooner rather than later.

If you think you need help, do not be afraid to ask for it.

Mental illness is NOT a sign of weakness anymore than a cold or flu. It can strike anyone at anytime.

We may never know why Gary Speed felt that the only way to deal with whatever issues he had was to take his own life, but this can serve as a warning to us all.

In a day and age when many of today’s footballers are more interested in their bank balance than their performance, Gary Speed will stand the test of time as a role model for youngsters and how to approach the game.

I will certainly be telling my boy about him. What a wonderful player he was and what a credit to his profession and his family he was.

I only hope he has now found the peace that he was sadly never to find in life.

R.I.P. Gary Speed MBE.