Football unites to pay respect to Gary Speed

“My Captain, my hero, my mate”, that was one of many tributes that’s flooded in today as the footballing world come to grips with the death of Wales, Leeds, Newcastle and Everton legend Gary Speed at the tender age of 42.

At 7:08 on Sunday 27^th November 2011 Speed’s body was found hanging at his Cheshire home and football had lost a legend. The one question that remains is why? It is one question that may never be answered; here was a man that had his dream job, a highly successful career, a wife and two young children. Speed was slowly changing the fortunes of the Wales side and four wins from their last five games, including a 4-1 win over Norway in his last game proved that.

Craig Bellamy, Speed’s team mate and friend and one of Speed’s players in the Wales squad was today withdrawn from the Liverpool squad ahead of their clash with Manchester City, meanwhile, Shay Given was left in tears as the crowd at the Liberty Stadium before the fixture before Swansea and Aston Villa turned the minutes silence into a minutes applause, leaving the Villa goalkeeper struggling to play after the pair spent six seasons together at Newcastle.

Former Wales’s team mate John Hartson was left ‘Devastated’, while the man who gave Speed his first Wales cap Bobbie Gould said “Tears had been shed”. The sheer volume of tributes make it all more emotional, here was a man that was loved as player, manager, husband and father and that will never be forgotten.

We may never know what drove Speed to hang himself today, however, it has shocked the footballing world and will undoubtedly raise awareness amongst people that no matter how good someone life looks from the outside, we never truly knows what lies beneath. One thing that we are sure of though is that today football lost a true gent and model professional.

RIP Gary Speed, you will be missed.

What are your favourite memories of Gary Speed? As always let me know.

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The unEXpected goalscorer

Fernando Torres, Raul Meireles and Nicolas Anelka were all lining up against their former club Liverpool this afternoon hoping to grab a goal that would help Chelsea avoid a second consecutive home defeat in nine years, however it was a former Blue now playing for the Reds who scored to condemn Villas-Boas’s side to a second home defeat in a row.

Glen Johnson of all players on the field was the man to score against his former side after playing at Stamford Bridge between 2003 and 2007 as he swept home a fine goal to send the travelling supporters delirious as they claimed their second win at Chelsea in two seasons as well as recording their third straight win against the London side.

This defeat will of course add to the disgruntled noises that are currently rumbling out of Stamford Bridge. Club officials rubbished reports of a rift in the relationship between AVB and owner Roman Abramovich as ‘Total nonsense’, this result would suggest otherwise.

Torres, a £50 Million pound buy last January from Liverpool started the game on the bench and was lacklustre when he did rear his head above the pit in what was a feisty encounter. Torres defendants will say that the man himself never claimed to be worth that amazing figure so he shouldn’t be kept be judged by it, however, money in football has spiralled out of control so when fans see their club pay that much for a player with the money that supporters pay to watch after a long week at work then I feel it is fair for Chelsea fans to begin so much for from their ‘star striker’.

As for Liverpool this was a superb win and ironically they earned it with their massive signings on the bench. Andy Carroll (£35 Million), Stewart Downing (£19 Million) and Jordan Henderson (£20 Million) were all rested as Kenny Dalglish threw the likes of Maxi, Suarez, Lucas and Johnson into the mix.

These two sides will be expecting to challenge for the title this term, however the grim reality for the pair is that they both sit 12 points behind league leaders Manchester City. Dalglish will be happy with the win whereas AVB will be aware the pressure is building on the 33 year old and despite many hoping that he will be given the chance to turn it around, knowing the way Abramovich does things it could be that AVB could be gone before Christmas.

What do you think? Did Chelsea deserve to lose? Will AVB sacked before Christmas? Can Liverpool build on this win and push for the title?

As always let me know.