Gary Speed's Suicide Mourned by Millions, Football Manager 'As Bubbly as Ever' Before Death
The football world in the United Kingdom and abroad is still reeling by the shocking news that Wales national team manager and legend Gary Speed committed suicide on Saturday, with the reasons behind his death baffling millions.
Speed filmed the afternoon show “Football Focus” at the BBC’s studios in Manchester, England, and even posed for photographs with fans just hours before driving home and hanging himself Saturday afternoon.
“He was as bubbly as I’ve known him. He was talking about his kids, how they were really coming on, and talking about playing golf next week,” said the show’s presenter, Dan Walker, to the Daily Mail.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Friends and colleagues, including ex-Wales teammate Robbie Savage, also shared how stunned he was by the news and how it made no sense to him. Savage broke down in tears on the BBC’s Radio 5 Live show, sharing that he lost a mentor and a friend.
The Wales manger leaves behind a wife and two teenage sons. According to the police report, there are no suspicious circumstances surrounding the incident, and Speed appears to have hanged himself shortly after returning home on Saturday.
Phil Pritchard, the Football Association of Wales president who appointed Speed to the managerial post, summed up the disbelief and sickening feeling the nation and the entire world experienced at the news.
"I literally couldn't believe it when I had the phone call. -- I'm asking the same question myself (why?). I spoke to Gary only midweek and we were talking quite normally about the fixture planning. I saw him on the television on Saturday and he seemed normal.” Pritchard added to Wales Online: "I am asking myself the same questions. I just don't understand it, I can't understand it. It is just total shock,” said Pritchard.
During Sunday’s Premier League match between Swansea and Aston Villa, fans at the Livery Stadium chanted Gary Speed’s name after the one-minute silence at kickoff. The Welsh club, along with many others where Speed used to play, laid out tributes to a man who many describe as a Welsh hero who did a great deal for the sport. The manager even received an MBE by Prince Charles in 2010.
As fans continue to pour tributes, an official inquest into his death is set to begin on Tuesday at Warrington Coroner's Court – but it is possible the behind the suicide may never be known.
