Gary Speed’s death adds tragic tinge to World Cup group

THE death of Gary Speed at the age of 42 yesterday shocked football to its core, and the tragedy is certain to be felt throughout the forthcoming World Cup qualifying campaign as Wales – numbed by the loss of their manager – prepare to take on Scotland, along with Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia and Belgium.

In the space of 18 months Speed – who won 85 caps for his country – had transformed Wales in recent internationals, and with their belief back, they rated serious contenders to mount a challenge in Group A in qualifying for Brazil 2014, despite being in the lowest-ranked pot of so-called minnows when the draw was made. Under Speed, Wales finished Euro 2012 qualifying strongly, with victories over Bulgaria and Switzerland and would have earned a well-deserved point against England at Wembley had it not been for an uncharacteristic missed open goal by Robert Earnshaw. To confirm their promise as a team flourishing under their enthusiastic young manager, Wales put Norway to the sword in a friendly in Cardiff earlier this month, winning 4-1.

Wales had faltered under Speed’s predecessor, John Toshack, with several players vowing never to play for the former Anfield legend again, and others appearing only sporadically in the red shirt, with the suspicion that harmony was absent from the squad.

But since Speed took over from caretaker Brian Flynn, results have turned, and there was no doubt that everyone in a Wales shirt was pulling in the same direction. After Carling Nations Cup defeats by Scotland and Ireland, Wales - with top-class performers like Aaron Ramsey, Gareth Bale and Craig Bellamy all living up to their club form - looked a different proposition, rising from 117th to 45th in Fifa’s world rankings.

Craig Levein’s Scotland knew they could expect the toughest of matches against Wales, home and away, when they learned the pair would be renewing a World Cup qualifying rivalry famous for the pivotal matches between the pair in 1977 and 1985, the latter which ended in tragedy when Jock Stein died of a heart attack at Ninian Park, Cardiff. But yesterday’s sad news will cast a cloud over the next batch of qualifying fixtures, which Speed himself helped arrange during a meeting between the Group A nations in Brussels last week.

Speed was heavily involved in the fixture carve-up alongside Levein and Toshack – now manager of Macedonia – as the countries haggled over qualifying dates, and appeared to be upbeat and excited about the campaign when he emerged from the talks.

“As always, there had to be some give and take, but I am happy enough. This is such a well-balanced group we knew everyone would be looking for an early advantage,” he said.

“It went down to the wire. We went around the houses a few times because everyone wanted the best deal for their own countries. But John Toshack, who has done this sort of thing himself a few times before, used that experience he had previously with Wales to get it sorted in the end with Croatia’s Slaven Bilic and Scotland’s Craig Levein.

“Tosh spoke well and his experience in these matters showed. Our matches are double headers, so we need to keep our good form through the friendly matches that we have left onto the start of the qualifiers next autumn and beyond.”

Speed had given no hint of being troubled, and he reinforced the public view of a man happy with life and his work when he appeared on BBC’s Football Focus on Saturday – less than 24 hours before he was found dead at his home in Cheshire.

Levein was stunned by the news, especially having enjoyed his company only days earlier at the qualifying talks.

“Football has lost a real talent and a gentleman. Gary was a young manager with the world at his feet,” said Levein, “Stewart Regan [SFA chief executive] and I were laughing and joking with him just last week. He was doing some fantastic work with the Welsh team and I was looking forward to pitting my wits against him. My deepest sympathies go out to Gary’s family and the football community in Wales.”

Regan added: “I am shocked and saddened to hear of the tragic death of Gary Speed. Craig Levein and I were with him last week at the World Cup fixtures meeting in Brussels and he was in good spirits. Our thoughts go out to Gary’s family, and our friends at the Football Association of Wales at this desperately sad time.”

Wales players have also spoken of their sense of devastation following the death of their manager, who they had hoped could lead them to their first World Cup finals since 1958. Left-back Neil Taylor, one of four Wales players involved in Swansea’s match at the Liberty Stadium against Aston Villa yesterday, believes going on to achieve that feat would be a fitting tribute to a man who won a record number of Wales caps for an outfield player.

Taylor, speaking after playing in Swansea’s goalless draw against Villa, where there was a spontaneous outbreak of applause for Speed during a minute’s silence prior to kick off, said: “He loved his football and he was a great football man, an all-round great guy and I cannot say enough about him. People around the world will be in shock. The game is going to really miss him. I hope we can qualify. It’s a long way from our thoughts, but I hope we can do that and continue to play week in week out in his memory. He had a great set-up going and he was going to achieve great things with Wales.”

Villa defender James Collins was also devastated. He said: “It’s a sad loss of a man who was doing great, great things for Welsh football. I played with him for a long time, so it was hard to even play the game today. We knew two hours before kick off, just when we were getting to the ground. It was heartbreaking.”

Villa keeper Shay Given was another deeply affected by Speed’s death. The pair had played together at Newcastle and the Irishman was in tears during the minute’s applause. Collins added: “Shay was very close with him and he was so emotional that you didn’t know if he was going to play the game.” Swansea centre-half Ashley Williams added: “You cannot fill the gap that he has left.”

Wales striker Craig Bellamy withdrew from Liverpool’s Premier League clash with Manchester City after hearing of Speed’s death, because he was too upset to play. Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish, who signed Speed when he was manager of Newcastle, said: “Gary was like a mentor to ‘Bellars’. Bellars was a bit upset with what was going on and I took the decision myself. There are more important things than playing a football match.”

Dalglish added: “Gary Speed was a fantastic footballer but more importantly he was a decent fellow. A lot of people are saddened by what has happened and the most important people at this moment in time are his wife and two boys. Your heart goes out to them and they will need as much support as they can possibly get in the immediate future.

“I am sure they will get that because he had a lot of good friends and because he was a good guy himself. It is disappointing for everybody.”

Howard Wilkinson, under whom Speed played when Leeds won the league title in 1992, described the man who played almost 700 games in a career that took him from Elland Road to Everton, Newcastle, Bolton and Sheffield United, as a “star in the true sense”. Wilkinson told BBC Five live: “The players I worked with represented all colours of the rainbow in terms of character, but in Gary’s case he was a star in the true sense. For him – at 42 – to leave us is such a tragic loss. It’s unbelievable.”

Speed’s former Wales team-mate, Ryan Giggs, who was linked with a role in the national set-up when Speed took charge, was another to speak of his sadness. Giggs said: “I am totally devastated. Gary Speed was one of the nicest men in football and someone I am honoured to call a team-mate and friend. Words cannot begin to describe how sad I feel.”