Gary Speed dies aged 42

[HastingsSeagull]

Utterly shocked to just find this out. Can't think of a nicer footballer off the pitch (by all accounts) and was clearly a very talented young manager and thus you assume motivator of other people, getting the best from them and maybe putting them ahead of himself. Always remember him being the answer to a question along the lines of - who is the only player to have scored a goal in every single one of the 18 years the Prem was running (to that date) as 'the Prem'..... sums up his playing career if I got details of that one right.

 

[Max Paper]

cant believe it, very sad but makes you wonder and I don't want to upset anyone but was it really down to depression? RIP GS

 

[Poojah]

cant believe it, very sad but makes you wonder and I don't want to upset anyone but was it really down to depression? RIP GS

Few suicides are the result of euphoria.

Whether it's a long standing issue or something which happens suddenly, I think you have to be quite ill emotionally at that particular moment to take your own life.

A friend of mine took his own life a few years ago. He'd be about 21 at the time, and always seemed a perfectly normal, happy guy - at no point did he express or intimate any feelings of sadness or discontent.

One afternoon, his girlfriend of several years (they'd been going out since school) left him. A few hours later he was found hanged in his mum and dad's garage.

My point is, overwhelming depression can develop over time, or in an instant. Who knows which applies in this case.

RIP Gary.

 

[Durlston]

I listened to Robbie Savage on Radio 5 tonight and he was absolutely distraught by what's happened today. Everyone phoning in had so many kind words about his Welsh ex-teammate Gary Speed and what a genuinely nice person he was. Hearing Robbie in tears set me off, it was harrowing to hear the pain of losing a close friend for him.

 

[Fungus]

Always remember him being the answer to a question along the lines of - who is the only player to have scored a goal in every single one of the 18 years the Prem was running (to that date) as 'the Prem'..... sums up his playing career if I got details of that one right.

He was the first to play 500 Prem games. Think Giggs was the answer to the question, but still a very impressive feat.

 

[Gritt23]

This story has upset me all day. Speed was always a person I looked at and wanted to be. Good looking, successful, never really injured, never seemed to fall-out with anyone, you'd hear him interviewed and he came over as intelligent and a genuinely nice bloke. There aren't many footballers that you can say all of that about.

His whole career just seemed to be endless success, as he played into his 40's and then seemlessly moved into management, with the look and personality, that if he ever did want less pressure, there would surely be a TV studio waiting for him. What more could you want, who wouldn't want to have been Gary Speed?

And then this happens today! Unbelievable. Just shows that you never know what is truly going on in someone else's life, and most importantly, in someone else's head.

RIP Speedo.

*truly gutted*

 

[DerbyGull]

Very sad. I wonder where his soul has ended up.

 

[desprateseagull]

Sad news.

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

as someone who has had depression for a number of years and not too long ago was at the lowest point that i can imagine i wasn't going to post about depression in this thread, but a number of posts have prompted me too

a lot of people with depression find it almost impossible to portray their emotions properly/normally.......i often covered it up when i was around people by trying to look overly happy and fun, but it's when you're on your own that horrible thoughts enter your head, i can't begin to describe how horrible it is to wake up and wish you hadn't.......for years nobody from my closest friends to family had any idea that anything was wrong with me because i was so good at covering it up and acting like everything was fine......mainly because i found it easier to act like everything was fine and i was happy than have to face actually talking about the things that were wrong with me, and i felt that if people knew then i would be burdening them....it took something quite drastic to change that and a lot of people were shocked to discover that anything was wrong with me.....

as for all the tributes to him being a top guy and doing well in his job.......unfortunately when you're depressed other people holding you in high esteem doesn't make much difference because of how shit you feel about yourself.....

it's impossible to put yourself in that mind set and to fully understand what would drive someone into such a drastic act as taking their own life unless you've been in that position in my opinion

 

[Starry]

absolutely awful news. couldn't believe it when the phone went last night and my brother said speedo hung himself.

as once was said "go on gary speed, get one for yourself son" i hope he is up there with billy and john with a glass of his favourite belgian beer in his hand. just so sad, they are making that huge deal at leeds this year about it being ten years and he was going to play golf with us all in a few weeks as part of the ten years on thing. completely gutted. that cross he played in to chapman to score when we beat sheff wed 6-1 is still one of the best crosses of a ball i have ever seen. what a midfield. him, batty, strach and gary mc. sad times. and when he scored that opening goal at the goldstone, same game mervyn day managed to get himself tied up in the goal net before kick off.

certainly puts things in perspective when stuff like this happens.

 

[rcf0712]

Dreadful news, my heart goes out to his kids especially and his poor wife having to cope with everything. When I saw the news he'd died I expected a car crash or heart attack or something, but when later it was confirmed as a suicide I was in total disbelief. Mental illness, and especially depression, is so much more widespread than we realise.....

 

[NMH]

One wonders how a family man can even leave his children to cope with the loss of their father - his inner pain must have been intense.
It's hard to estimate the power of every man's perspective - the World can look to us, as if it must look the same for everyone. It just doesn't, and the blue skies we are born under can turn black in another person's mind.

I'd like to think I can just get up and do something else, if the situation I'm in at any given time doesn't feel good.
For some there's no way to get released from the prison inside their head - or perhaps they are tormented by something they, or someone else, has done.

I've lost 2 friends in the last year to suicides. 1 was a doctor who had left his profession, felt the pressure of later life (50's) too heavy to handle and saw no good solutions in the future.
Another was undergoing some pain from a physical condition and was also lonely. Sadly I was nowhere near enough that he felt he could talk to me about things, or had anyone close enough to talk to them before making the terrible final decision.

We might all fear what can happen to use physically, but mental anguish is at least as fearful.

 

[Scoffers]

One wonders how a family man can even leave his children to cope with the loss of their father - his inner pain must have been intense.

As a father of 3 young kids myself, this is the bit I really cannot get my head around. Whatever demons were at play, he must have had a tortured soul. RIP Garry, but my heart goes out to his kids who have to live with their dad leaving them, and I'm guessing they will never know why

 

[Razzoo]

Incredibly sad and unexpected news, may he R.I.P.

 

[herecomesaregular]

Incredibly shocking and sad news. His pain is over but what pain has he left behind? I really hope he did not leave himself to be found by his family or friends. You have the right to end your own life if you so choose but imo you do not have the right to inflict the horror of finding you on those who love you. Noone deserves to have to live with that. It must be hard enough for a stranger to come across but your nearest and dearest? I find that hard to forgive. Sorry, not to be disrespectful or abusive but to anyone who considers suicide then please even in those moments of torment think of that.
May he rip.

 

[Ⓩ-Ⓐ-Ⓜ-Ⓞ-Ⓡ-Ⓐ]

Such a sad story, my thoughts have been with his friends and family since I heard the news. Always came across as a great guy and a great footballer. There are rumours on Twitter that the Sun was going to run a story on Monday (today) exposing him as having a gay affair. Not saying I believe this just repeating it, I suppose we will never really now what was torturing the poor man's soul.

RIP Gary

 

[Gritt23]

a lot of people with depression find it almost impossible to portray their emotions properly/normally.......i often covered it up when i was around people by trying to look overly happy and fun, but it's when you're on your own that horrible thoughts enter your head, i can't begin to describe how horrible it is to wake up and wish you hadn't.......for years nobody from my closest friends to family had any idea that anything was wrong with me because i was so good at covering it up and acting like everything was fine......mainly because i found it easier to act like everything was fine and i was happy than have to face actually talking about the things that were wrong with me, and i felt that if people knew then i would be burdening them....it took something quite drastic to change that and a lot of people were shocked to discover that anything was wrong with me.....

Can I just take this opportunity to shout out to any and all of my friends, if this is how any of you feel, PLEASE, tell me. A quiet word, a text, we'll meet for a quiet meal / drink and talk it over, I'd tell no-one else, if that's what you want. Just PLEASE turn to me, as it would be in no way a "burden" to be there for you, but the feeling of having NOT been there for you when you needed someone, would haunt me forever.

 

[Napper]

Im hearing it was due to wifes affair and not a long term depression disorder , not that it majkes any difference.

Very selfish way to go knowing your family will be the ones to discover body but desperate man obviously and not thinking of others.

RIP , very sad

 

[Danny-Boy]

Gary's cause of death will send shockwaves through the world of football and how mental health is just as important as physical health. It is just so awful and there has to be more support for footballers when they finish their playing careers.

Nothing else really matters now in football. Desperately sad that he might not have sought help for his problems.

I agree, I feel sick at myself now for any snide remarks I've posted before about Justin Fashanu.

 

[Wozza]

Im hearing it was due to wifes affair

Not really a time to speculate, is it?