I was stopped in the street this morning by a complete stranger to tell me some sad news and when such occurrences happen, you know the news will be shocking.
I have no intention speculating on this blog about the reasons for the tragic loss of Gary Speed to his family, Wales and the world of football today, but am very proud of my home city's response before their match this afternoon.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/15910765.stm
R.I.P. Gary Speed
yes ian the fans response in swansea today was terrific - spontaneous and genuine! A measure of how ordinary football fans regarded gary speed. The villa fans played their full part in this too it should be noted.
ReplyDeleteGary played for a number of sides during his illustrious career - and fans of all of them will no doubt have a view on him. As a welsh football supporter what most stood out about gary speed for me was his willingness to turn out for his country whenever he was needed!! Whether it was a world cup qualifier or a unglamorous friendly in san marino you knew gary speed would be there for wales - sadly the same cannot always be said about wales players down the years!
As well of course as being a personal tragedy for his family and friends gary's death is a catastrophe for welsh football. There's no question he was building a wales team that was going to challenge hard for a place in brazil in 2014. He will be much much missed.
Leigh Richards
swansea
I can only assume you thought my comment was offensive in some way and that is why you didn't publish it. I can assure you it wasn't.
ReplyDeleteOn sunday, hundreds of thousands, possibly even millions of grown men wept because one of the greatest men this country had ever known had died.
The man had everything and in the second half of his life his managerial career looked as though it could even eclipse his playing career.
Every Wales game I have been to over the past several years I have believed was "the one where the boys would become men". Where we'd go out and give some decent teams a good shoeing. There's been penty of false dawns and so many occasions where that looked like it might never happen. Gary made that finally happen.
Nos da Gary.
Stuart. I only deleted one comment and that was an advert for a news site. I apologise if there was a problem with your comment, particularly on such an emotional subject.
ReplyDeleteNo problem Ian. I thought it was becuase I mentioned the amount of people crying. It might have sounded dismissive when it was anything but.
ReplyDelete