Alan Shearer and Gary Speed were very good friends, and they became close when they both played for Newcastle United, when the great Bobby Robson was the Magpies’ manager.
A recent photograph of Gary Speed with wife Louise
And we knew the two of them used to vacation together with their families in the summers, and it turns out that Alan met Gary early on Saturday afternoon, and Shearer was later seen on TV at the Old Trafford game, where he was watching his home town team Newcastle play the Red Devils.
Who would have thought that less than 24 hours later Gary would be found hanged in his home in Chesire, at around 7:00 am on Sunday morning?
Shearer gave an emotional interview to BBC Radio Five Live’s Monday Night Club, and he described what turned out to be the last ever meeting with his good friend:
“We were arranging next weekend. He was coming up to stay at my house with his wife and we were going up to various charity dinners on Friday and Saturday. We left the studio at half past two and I walked over to Old Trafford to go and watch Newcastle.”
“I shook his hand and said, ‘see you next weekend’ – and unfortunately I won’t.” “It’s incredible. I’m still numb and still shocked like everyone else. You read things in the newspaper and it doesn’t happen to one of your best mates.”
“I’m just so sad and shocked and feel for (Speed’s wife) Louise and his two boys and mum and dad.” “I was with him and he was happy and joking and we were having a normal mickey-take like we do out of each other, and having a laugh and a joke about our golf trips and holidays that we went on together last year.”
“And we were planning our next holiday in Portugal next summer with our families and kids.” “You’re bound to have arguments along the way in football, but no one ever did with Gary – no one had a bad word for him.”
“He was an incredible guy who you could rely and depend on. Everyone loved him.”
“He was loved because that’s the type of guy that he was – he got on with everyone and everyone respected him.”
This is a story that is very hard to take for a lot of us who looked up to Gary Speed, as not only a wonderful footballer, but a terrific person, who always displayed class and dignity, whatever the situation was.
And of course he only recently had set about transforming the Wales National side into a force to be reckoned with.
So at least on the surface he seemed to have everything going for him, and it seems he showed that kind of positive attitude to his close friends too, like Alan Shearer.
It must be torturous for Alan to have met an upbeat and smiling Gary Speed on Saturday afternoon, the day before he was found dead at his home.
This is one of the saddest stories we have ever covered in football, and are still completely devastated by Gary’s untimely death.
But our hearts go out to his wife Louise and his two sons, and to the rest of Gary’s family.
17 comments so far
GeordieToon89
Nov 29, 2011 at 12:00 AM
Comment #1Rest In Peace Speedo
t00ntime
Nov 29, 2011 at 12:01 AM
Comment #2Somebody said chec was only 29 :O didnt know that lol but am I just underating him cause since his accident hedoesnt seem the same and and I think krul is now better, only 5keepers I can think of are better then krul and chec isnt one of em
nden85
Nov 29, 2011 at 12:09 AM
Comment #3Cech. Not sure why that’s of any relevance though.
GeordieToon89
Nov 29, 2011 at 12:40 AM
Comment #4t00ntime – was me who said that mate… a think hes a great keeper never does many costly mistakes and his reactions are immense.. my top 5 in the world:
1 – Iker Casillas/Shay Given
2 – Pepe Reina
3 – Manuel Neuer
4 – Petr Cech
5 – Cant think of a 5th possibly Steklenburg
GeordieToon89
Nov 29, 2011 at 12:41 AM
Comment #5actually 5th for me is Igor Akinfeev when hes not injured
t00ntime
Nov 29, 2011 at 12:50 AM
Comment #61) cassilas
2)given
3) steklnburg
4) neuer
5)vorm/Krul
6) cech
They are my top 6 😛 I dont know why but when ever I see reina he seems more lucky then anything else 😛 like against city he came out 4 times, first time debatable handball,2nd time perfect 3rd time aguero got passed him and messed up, and the last time silva just didnt shoot 😛
Colo2
Nov 29, 2011 at 12:51 AM
Comment #7So tragic. It was the interview with Bryn Law on SSN that really choked me up. RIP Gary
shamsoftabriz
Nov 29, 2011 at 1:20 AM
Comment #8Is it normal for someone contemplating suicide to make such specific plans? I’m not asking this rhetorically or insinuating anything here—I honestly don’t know. It just seems so strange that this sort of decision would just come out of nowhere. So far as I do know, most suicide victims exhibit clearer signs of depression such as isolation, brooding, despair, etc. Perhaps football players are of the kind that aren’t well suited to expressing their emotions. Any suicide is a shock, but this one just doesn’t seem right. There is simply nothing that we know of that suggests he was going through a rough patch. To look at him and think that, for some time, he was fighting a severe mental illness and needed help…well, no one thought that. Not one symptom so far as can tell. I honestly don’t want anything dragged out into the press to further hurt or affect his wife and boys, but on the other hand I can’t believe that someone can be living a happy life and then–out of the blue–decide to end it like that. Given the situation, though, and if it makes a big difference, I’d rather not know if there was something private going on. Louise and the two boys deserve all the love and protection in the world now–what’s done is done. It will be a long time before we get over this one, if ever.
niffnoff
Nov 29, 2011 at 1:49 AM
Comment #9Still sucks about Gary.
I felt even more worse seeing the lads playing Sunday, especially Given.
Have they found any motive for his suicide yet?
gonufc
Nov 29, 2011 at 2:57 AM
Comment #10@8 shamsoftabriz
About him making plans, it could simply be that if he were to not agree to these plans then that would be out of the ordinary and therefore visible that something could be going on.
I understand what you mean though. I seem to be bouncing back and forth every couple hours between “This seems a little strange and suspicious….” to “It’s obviously a suicide, people just want it to be foul play because it’s so scarily random”.
I suppose it’s incredibly selfish really that I want to know more- if there is in fact more- just to quell my curiosity about the whole thing. There just seems to be a missing piece somewhere- either evidence of absolute misery or a reason to suddenly need to escape or all manner of other things.
It’s not often that you get genuinely shocking news out of nowhere, but this definately is one piece.
GeordieToon89
Nov 29, 2011 at 8:46 AM
Comment #11Leeds United fans will sing Gary Speeds name for 11 minutes starting on the 11th minute of the game
LewSpi
Nov 29, 2011 at 9:14 AM
Comment #12Gt89 I like that tribute, we should campaign everywhere for us to do it on Saturday.
stk85
Nov 29, 2011 at 10:02 AM
Comment #13I am still shocked and cannot for the life of me understand this. apart from something inside me telling me something very very dark happened on saturday night.
I would like to see every Newcastle player take to the field wearing Speed 11 shirts, possibly for the whole game. should’nt make a difference if the players have their numbers on their shorts.
Chant his name, constantly throughout the game.
Beat chelsea, for him
stuart no9
Nov 29, 2011 at 10:38 AM
Comment #14sham @ 8……. my wife has workrd in mental health for 24 years. even though there are no signs that he was going to take his own life, it appears to be a classic case of someone who , had made his mind up ( for whatever reason) to go ahead with it. TO do this he had to careful and not drop his guard, so someone just might twig on that something is not quite right. This does not sound like someone with mental health issues as his agent has already stated .IMO and this is only MO as i cant see another reason WHY he should to something as devastating as this . was he afraid of something? has he done something in the past that the newspapers have picked up on? was a secret about to be exposed that would shatter his wife and 2 boys? some thing he knew he could not handle? who knows m8. IMO it was a carefully planned suicide while his family were away. speedy was my idol during those great times never have i been so heartbroken by the death of a sportsmen, as this was totally out of the blue. his poor family. how do they come back from this?
moonraker
Nov 29, 2011 at 12:16 PM
Comment #15Stuart no 9
I think i know how you feel cos I do as well. I was in tears when i heard about Shay on Sunday and then Bellamy couldnt play and now Shearer saying they had plans for the weekend.
He must have been in a hell of a state to do what he did and I feel for him cos he suffered alone>
God bless you and RIP Speedo!
NUFC FOR SALE
Nov 29, 2011 at 12:26 PM
Comment #16Has anyone else heard the rumours going around about a newpaper contacting Gary on the Saturday.
Someone i know has said they heard that a well known newspaper had contacted Gary on the Saturday afternoon to tell him they were going to run a story on the Monday about him being Gay?????
I cant beleive this can be true but have to admit that from the stories coming from Shearer and other people who spoke to him early on Saturday I can only think that it had to be something like this for him to do what he did???
I’m still expecting to wake up and find this was a bad dream.
stk85
Nov 29, 2011 at 1:11 PM
Comment #17NUFC FOR SALE: that’s what i heard too. but firstly, we need to let the family grieve. i need to finish grieving actually. i’m still shedding the odd tear.
the dust needs to settle. but once it has, and if this rumour is ever found to have any grounding, then, we burn the sick scummer journalist who did this and tear down his newspaper for being so insensitive and immoral.
if that is indeed the case, someone will pay.
i can see this being the final and incredibly sad chapter of the Leveson enquiry on media conduct