Gary Andrew Speed (biography, cause of death)

Gary Speed is a former Welsh football player and coach who died suddenly in 2011 at the age of 42 years. At that time, he coached the Wales national football team. When Gary Speed was still a footballer, he played in the position of the left midfielder, but in fact he was a universal player - he could also play both in the center of the field and on the left flank of the defense.

Carier start

Gary Speed was born on September 8, 1969 in the city of Mancot in Wales, where he started playing football. However, only at the age of fifteen, he was able to enter the academy of the Leeds club, which as a result concluded a professional contract in 1987 when he turned eighteen. However, he began to speak for the main team not at once - at first he had to sit in deep reserve.

He made his debut only in 1989 at the age of 19, but during the training he proved himself from the best side, and in the next season he played much more often. When the team entered the First Division (and, accordingly, the highest) in 1990, Gary Speed was already a regular base player. In that season, he played 56 games and scored ten goals.

The following year, Leeds was able to win the championship, and Speed made a lot of efforts, playing in 47 games and scoring ten more goals. In all for the club, he spent seven full seasons, playing 312 games and scoring 58 goals, but that championship was the only one during his stay at Leeds. In 1996, a 27-year-old football player decided to go to Everton, who paid him five million pounds - a very serious amount at that time.

Going to Everton

Gary Speed, a footballer who spent almost his entire career at Leeds, decided to challenge himself - but he stayed in the new club for only a year and a half. During this time he entered the field 65 times and scored 18 goals. In the winter of 1998, Newcastle decided that he wanted to see a Welsh player, and Gary Speed was paid eight million pounds. As a result, the player quickly changed the team - but at Newcastle he spent more time than at Everton.

The game for "Newcastle"

It was "Newcastle" that became the new home for this football player. For seven years, the team played a midfielder, who on his shirt was wearing the inscription Gary Andrew Speed - that is almost the same as Gary held in his home club, "Leeds". During this time he played 285 matches, scored 40 goals, was a regular base player, twice ended in the FA Cup final, in 1998 and 1999, and in 2001 even reached the final of the Intertoto Cup, but not one trophy in his collection so add And could not.

In 2004, Speed was already 35 years old, and everyone thought that after "Newcastle" he will finish his career, but the player was incredibly hardy and full of energy. So in the summer of that year he announced to Newcastle that he was not going to end his career after the contract expired, so he was sold to Bolton for a symbolic million pounds to get a game practice there.

"Bolton" and the unquenchable energy

Everyone thought that in "Bolton" Gary will win back another year, a maximum of two, after which he will retire. However, the football player surprised everyone again - he played at the club for three and a half years, and did not sit on the bench, but was one of the key players. Moreover, he had already started to train coaching experience already - in 2007, for several months he was a playing assistant to the coach. This was his first experience, and he performed a rather interesting task - he served as a kind of intermediary between the head coach and the players on the field, and when he returned to the bench, he assisted the head coach already outside the field. However, while Speed stayed mostly as a football player, and during his time at the club, he entered the field 139 times and scored 14 goals, after which he signed a contract with Sheffield, who competed in the Championships, that is, the Second League of England.

The last club

When Speed signed the contract with Sheffield in the winter of 2008, he was 38 years old, the age in which most of the field players have been alone for about five years. So Speed in its own way was a unique player, which now around the world unit. However, Gary could not calm down, he needed to play even at that age, so he continued to move on - and in Sheffield, he was also an important player, not a reservist, substituting for only the smallest matches. For a year and a half he played in forty matches, added six more goals to his account, and in 2009 was appointed assistant coach - but more on this later.

At the moment, it is worth noting only that in the summer of 2009, Spida's career as a football player came to an end - he no longer appeared on the football field, although officially announced his retirement in sports only when he was appointed the head coach of Sheffield in 2010 .

National team appearances

The Wales team in Gary Speed's career has played a very important role - for a long time he was a key player in the composition, even if he did not finish Wales for forty years, as it was in the clubs. In total for the national team he played 87 matches, in which he scored nine goals. He made his debut in November 1990 in a match against the Luxembourg national team. The first goal he had to wait four years - he was able to score only in October 1994 in the gates of the national team of Moldova. In March 1999, Gary first appeared on the field with a captain's armband. However, unfortunately, the Wales team could not make it through all this time to any major tournament - the closest it was to this in 2003. The Welsh reached the qualifying playoffs and were one step away from getting into the 2004 European Championship, but lost to the Russian team in two games with a total score of 0: 1. Shortly thereafter, Gary completed his career in the national team - his farewell match took place in October 2004.

Coach career

As you could already understand, not only was the football player Gary Speed. Coaching career of the Welshman began already in the "Bolton", and continued in "Sheffield", where, after the completion of a player's career, Speed became an assistant coach. At this position, he stayed a year, until Kevin Blackwell was not fired - then Gary was first appointed head coach. Unfortunately, the beginning turned out to be far from the most convincing - in 18 games the Spida team scored only 6 wins and earned just 21 points.

As a result, Speed was dismissed from his post in December 2010 - but immediately received an invitation from the Football Association of Wales, and in December of the same year he was already the head coach of the Wales team. Under his command, the team played ten matches, five of which won, and some of the victories were won in matches with strong opponents, such as Switzerland or Montenegro. However, his coaching career ended in a year - as his life.

Sad death

Gary Speed's life was generally good - he had an impressive career, a strong family and everything a person could wish for. However, in the fall of 2011, Gary Speed's wife discovered him hanging in the garage. Was it suicide? Some people argue that yes, this was the case, regardless of the fact that Gary did not show any inclination towards suicide.

However, there is another potential reason why Gary Speed could have died. The cause of death may be imprudence. The fact is that on the evening when Speed died, he quarreled with his wife - they had these quarrels periodically, so nothing foreshadowed troubles. The wife left, slamming the door, took the car and went to unwind. At this time, Speed went to the garage, built a noose and waited for the return of the spouse. However, she decided not to return home and spent the night in the car.

In the morning, when she wanted to shower and change before work, she saw that the door to the house was open, and Gary was not in the house. Then she noticed him in the garage - maybe he just wanted to scare his wife because of a quarrel, but she did not return home, he fell asleep with a noose around his neck, slipped and actually hanged himself. So sadly broke the life of a famous footballer and coach, who could in the future win many more trophies as a coach - but fate decreed otherwise, and Speed died very young.