Police stated Speed was found hanged on Sunday morning after committing suicide. He leaves a wife and two children.

Speed was one of the Premier League greats, the first player to make 500 appearances in the competition across spells with Leeds United, Everton, Newcastle United and Bolton Wanderers. He held the record of 535 Premier League appearances until David James passed that landmark.

He won the league title with Leeds in 1992, the last season before the Premier League began. He was twice an FA Cup runner-up with Newcastle United.

In total he made over 700 appearances before retiring from playing at Sheffield United in 2010. He made his final appearance against Wolves on November 25, 2008.

The midfielder won 85 international caps for Wales and took over as coach of the national side in December 2010 after a brief spell as boss of Champinship side Sheffield United.

In 2010 he was awarded an MBE for services to football.

He only appeared on the BBC's Football Focus magazine programme on Saturday lunchtime.

Speed transformed a Wales side which had dropped down to 112th in the FIFA rankings when he took charge. After a slow start he presided over a run of four wins in five games, the other match being a narrow loss away to England, which saw Wales surge up the rankings to 45th last month.

An FAW statement said: "The Football Association of Wales are sad to announce the death of the national team manager Gary Speed. We extend our sympathies and condolences to the family. We ask that everyone respects the family's privacy at this very sad time.''

A spokeswoman for Cheshire Police said: "At 7.08am today, Cheshire Police was informed of a sudden death at an address in Huntington, Chester.

"Officers went to the scene where a 42-year-old man was found dead. The next of kin have been informed and have confirmed the identity of the man as Gary Speed.

"There are no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death. The family have requested that they are left in peace to grieve at this difficult time. A family tribute will be released at a later date but not today.''

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/989128/wales-boss-gary-speed-dies-aged-42?cc=5739

sad news mane, though not a man utd fan loved him

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-15909277

kingsrod:

sad news mane, though not a man utd fan loved him

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-15909277

sorry bros but he had no affiliations with manchster united
He committed suicide

I really don't understand why.

Shocking.

Football focus yesterday, dead today leaves you 'cold'

R.I.P Gary Speed .Fantastic player for Bolton!

What a shock , so sad, oh WALES! THOUGH OH COUNTRY OF THE DEATH VALLEY

May His soul rest ,

But why

Sagamite:

I really don't understand why.

Shocking.

Me neither

I guess money doesn't make you happy afterall

RIP Gary

r231:

Me neither

I guess money doesn't make you happy afterall

RIP Gary

He has 2 kids.

He has 10 times more money than 99% will ever make in their lifetime.

He has one of the top jobs in the world for his profession.

He has a reputation that is highly respected.

What can be so worrying in life that he feels the need to kill himself?

Was he about to lose one or more of the above?

RIP Gary

^^^^^Shocking

Even Paul Gascoigne that has the whole wide world of problem and broke is still alive

but then you don't know what is going through peoples mind

saw the guy on TV Saturday talking about Man Utd and Newcastle game and gone Sunday morning

maybe there is something that he is not telling the world

Speed wasn't skillful as a player but he had a great engine. It's a sad loss to Wales and the football sphere; he could have ended up becoming a top top manager. To Gary: go well!

As a die hard Bolton Fan, I nearly broke down in tears yesterday. . .I still remember him giving is all to the trotter. . .I remember his goal in the 2-2 draw in the 07/08 season that earned us a show in europe. . .

It's sad. ,


As a person who has read lots of crime books, I know people can commit murder and make it look like suicide. . .



#Javalove. . .unless otherwise stated. . .!

Sagamite:

He has 2 kids.

He has 10 times more money than 99% will ever make in their lifetime.

He has one of the top jobs in the world for his profession.

He has a reputation that is highly respected.

What can be so worrying in life that he feels the need to kill himself?

Was he about to lose one or more of the above?

i wonder oh!

Sagamite:

He has 2 kids.

He has 10 times more money than 99% will ever make in their lifetime.

He has one of the top jobs in the world for his profession.

He has a reputation that is highly respected.

What can be so worrying in life that he feels the need to kill himself?

Was he about to lose one or more of the above?

And he was JUST 42! Damn! These oyibo people are just strange creatures.

Shocking mahn! One day he looks and sounds sane, the next he is found hanging by a rope. Hard to take in. May his soul find rest.

mystikal:

Shocking mahn! One day he looks and sounds sane, the next he is found hanging by a rope. Hard to take in. May his soul find rest.

. . . . and smiling on TV with nothing to suggest anything was wrong.

RIP G. Speed

Why,must he kill himself

If this is confirmed as suicide, then we will have to investigate what I hereby name the Gary Speed Syndrome- it is characterised by an individual being happy today and being suicidal tomorrow. Our thoughts are with Gary's family at this difficult time.

Sagamite:

He has 2 kids.

He has 10 times more money than 99% will ever make in their lifetime.

He has one of the top jobs in the world for his profession.

He has a reputation that is highly respected.

What can be so worrying in life that he feels the need to kill himself?

Was he about to lose one or more of the above?

you will not understand. I also pray you never do.

Tributes don't get better than this;

RIP Gary Speed
When I heard the tragic news yesterday, I was in shock, sadness, disbelief but also in awe of a man who was the perfect role model. A model pro, hard working, skilful, modest, good looking, never arrogant, I could go on, and on, and on even more. When somebody in the public eye passes away, we can sometime be found guilty of passing over their mistakes in life and their deficiencies but with Gary Speed, there were no deficiencies, he was universally liked and admired.

He played for Leeds but Man U fans respected him, he played for Everton and was respected by Liverpool, same for Newcastle and Sunderland, he was Welsh but the English loved him. If there is anybody you could aspire to be like, anybody to model yourself on, you need look no further than Gary Speed, a true legend in every sense of the word and a real gentleman to boot. Nobody is perfect but Gary Speed wasn't far off.

sleekcm:

Speed wasn't skillful as a player but he had a great engine. It's a sad loss to Wales and the football sphere; he could have ended up becoming a[b] top top [/b] manager. To Gary: go well!

Are you Jamie Redknapp?

As a person who has read lots of crime books, I know people can commit murder and make it look like suicide. . .

Supporting u on this too. How can one choose suicide for him/herself When There is JESUS This is Shocking, RIP

RIP, Gary Speed. But the bigger question to be asked is WHY? As Sagamite rightly pointed out his achievements, its sickening to begin to understand why he would commit suicide. Life, seriously dey tire me at the moment(just financial) but if i can somehow make half of what he has made so far, Suicide would be the farthest thing from my mind. My theory is, maybe he was a closeted gay and was about to be outed by his partner.

livapul86:

RIP, Gary Speed. But the bigger question to be asked is WHY? As Sagamite rightly pointed out his achievements, its sickening to begin to understand why he would commit suicide. Life, seriously dey tire me at the moment(just financial) but if i can somehow make half of what he has made so far, Suicide would be the farthest thing from my mind. My theory is, maybe he was a closeted man-lover and was about to be outed by his partner.

,i wish to draw your attention to this tribute. I echo every word of it and you need to realise that depression is not about dissatisfaction with ones accumulation or achievement, it is a disease that afflicts irrespective of all that.


[b]If anything, I think the lesson that should be taken from this is that depression shouldn't be seen as disease contracted in response to things 'not being right', but as a disease affecting your thought process, irrespective of your reality.

Treatment for depression is not a case of putting right those things making you depressed, it's about learning to think differently about the things making you depressed. I didn't seek treatment for a long time as I believed the factors making me depressed were tangible problems which I simply had to fix. It wasn't until I started to receive treatment that I became aware of how I'd been stuck in a self-destructive depressive cycle for years.

The solution wasn't the fixing of the problems per se, it was the fixing of the thought processes which led to my depression. I have since been fortunate enough to resolve many of the issues I considered at the time to be the cause of my depression, but through education I am now aware that the actual cause of my depression was depression itself. While this leaves the door open for it to return, irrespective of circumstance, I am at least well armed, forewarned and prepared. [/b]

Sorry, this is not a religious thread, however, what happened to mr speed is not far from this true testimony. Let us learn. A man of God from nigeria went to a particular country abroad, in one of his Gospel ministrations, he met a white woman complaining about his husband's terrible behaviour of always willing to commit suicide, he may take fork, knife or anything harmful, just to commit suicide. She brought her husband to the man of God for prayer, the man of God ministered to her husband to first of all accept Jesus christ into his life, after that, He was given a prayer point to pray. Later,The man of God left him. After some time, Something strange happened, this man with the thought of suicide scream, i have seen him, i have seen him,his countenance changed, the face that was gloomy became bright with a wondeful smile. What! The man of God came closer and asked him what happened, the man said he saw JESUS opened his brain spiritually and brought out a ROPE and closed the brain back to his normal position. As from that moment the thought of killing himself vanished from his life. Information from the family of this man recorded that some members of his family have died by killing themselves. That sucidal tendency has become a pattern in this particular family. So, it is possible for somebody to manifest those traits that his father, grandfather,greatgrandfather manifested when they were alive, now, if something like spiritual intervention is not done, the person may end up, the same way his father,grandfather or greatgranfather died. God bless you. God2man.

@ Oga Mbulela: Ur write-up was indeed insightful. I have definitely learnt something about depression. But my response wasn't to take a swing at Gary or to sound disgusting, it was merely to clutch at whatever logical reason that would necessitate Suicide.

livapul86:

@ Oga Mbulela: your write-up was indeed insightful. I have definitely learnt something about depression. But my response wasn't to take a swing at Gary or to sound disgusting, it was merely to clutch at whatever logical reason that would necessitate Suicide.

I feel you my brother.
my post has been slightly modified.
sorry for the slightly harsh tone.

Gary Speed, why? You were so cool and analytical on Football Focus, so unbelievable a few hours later its your obituary on most lips. . . . .

mbulela:


[b]If anything, I think the lesson that should be taken from this is that depression shouldn't be seen as disease contracted in response to things 'not being right', but as a disease affecting your thought process, irrespective of your reality.

Treatment for depression is not a case of putting right those things making you depressed, it's about learning to think differently about the things making you depressed. I didn't seek treatment for a long time as I believed the factors making me depressed were tangible problems which I simply had to fix. It wasn't until I started to receive treatment that I became aware of how I'd been stuck in a self-destructive depressive cycle for years.

The solution wasn't the fixing of the problems per se, it was the fixing of the thought processes which led to my depression. I have since been fortunate enough to resolve many of the issues I considered at the time to be the cause of my depression, but through education I am now aware that the actual cause of my depression was depression itself. While this leaves the door open for it to return, irrespective of circumstance, I am at least well armed, forewarned and prepared. [/b]

This is so apt!!!!

Gary speed why? oh why jay jay will miss u

I just heard about this earlier today.

But I'm suspicious about the whole thing.
If you saw him on Football Focus you'd see that he did not seem medicated or depressed or anything, just his normal laid-back self. On top of that he has no apparent history of mental health issues and no previous suicide attempts.

Not jumping to any conclusions yet. But I'm actually suspicious that somebody might have off'd him.