Gary Speed: RIP

Wales manager Gary Speed committed suicide yesterday at the age of 42

The sad, sad passing of Gary Speed yesterday put everything into perspective.

He was one of my football heroes as a kid.

My earliest memories of the game are of going to see Sir Bobby Robson's swashbuckling Newcastle side at St James' Park, a team Speed was an integral part of.

His late bursts into the box from midfield to score crucial headed goals were his trademark, while the way he carried himself on and off the pitch was the perfect example for any impressionable youngster.

Speed's death is an extraordinary blow for football; he was one of the game's good guys and the perfect professional.

However, this is not just a footballing tragedy. It's a human tragedy.

Speed leaves behind a wife and two children, whose distress at his suicide is unimaginable. Everybody's thoughts must be with them during this dreadful time.

It is rumoured Speed suffered with depression and if that is true it is a further indication the illness is still a taboo issue in football and one which must be addressed.

On Saturday, Stan Collymore was mocked on Twitter for explaining his battle with depression and "suicidal thoughts".

Most people simply don't understand depression.

Former England cricketer Marcus Trescothick had a high-profile battle with depression

No-one can truly understand it unless they have suffered from it. It is an illness, not a character flaw, as Marcus Trescothick's compelling autobiography explains.

But whether Speed suffered from depression or not, the game has lost one of its great men.

He was one of those unique individuals nobody seemed to have a bad word to say about. He just got on with his job and was seen as a "normal" guy.

That's what makes his death that much harder to take.

The news of his passing was a real bolt out of the blue. It was the most devastating of news and one which will hit the football community hard.

Speed was doing a magnificent job as Wales manager and seemed to have a long and successful managerial career in front of him.

The likes of Aaron Ramsey and Gareth Bale were flourishing under him and he seemed destined to manage at the top.

There was no public indication of what was to come from Speed, something perhaps typical of the man.

He never seemed to moan or complain. He just got on with it. Perhaps that cost him in the end.

He appeared the day before his death on the BBC's Football Focus, and seemed to be himself: a warm, intelligent man with a bright future ahead of him.

Speed on his final public appearance, on BBC's Football Focus, on Saturday

It just goes to show you can never be sure of what is going through a person's mind and the battles they are facing.

Speed would have been a great manager, but he was a fantastic player.

He served all his clubs with great distinction and just seemed to go on forever, while he was certainly one of the best players of the Premier League era.

Speed is loved at Newcastle for his spell under Sir Bobby Robson

Speed broke all manner of appearance records and rarely missed games through injury, while he was one of the few players opposition fans would not have a go at.

He was the sort of player - and person - you were proud was representing your club.

Inevitably, he never gave anything less than 100% on the pitch and was a role model to any aspiring youngster.

The whole of football was left dumbfounded by his death.

Shay Given, Speed's teammate at Newcastle, wept before Aston Villa's game at Swansea while Craig Bellamy, another former Magpies colleague, withdrew from Liverpool's clash with Manchester City after hearing of the passing of his mentor and friend.

Given was visibly moved by his friend's death

Everyone was affected by his death, even those who didn't know him.

I didn't know him personally, but was left deeply saddened by the news. A tragedy like this puts the game of football into perspective.

I struggled to concentrate on anything else yesterday as I just couldn't get to grips with the fact he was dead. The fact he hanged himself makes it even more difficult to bear.

Depression is a destructive illness. It doesn't matter how much money you earn or how good your job is - it can hit anybody.

Football should learn its lessons from Speed's death. Depression - regardless of whether it was that which tipped him over the edge - needs to be addressed and players who suffer from it need to be supported through the tough times.

Having such a high-profile job is fantastic to most but extremely difficult for others and for every big-mouthed egotistical player out there, there will be a Gary Speed, suffering in silence.

One of the game's true good guys has gone. Dead at 42, no age at all.

A great player and potentially even greater manager has been taken from us, but much more tragically, from his wife and kids.

Rest in peace Gary Speed. Gone but not forgotten.