RIP Gary Speed

Normally I find it quite an arduous process to sit and write a blog about football. Today I’m finding it impossible to not write something, just anything. It was only as I arrived at the Liberty Stadium today that I learned about the passing of Gary Speed, roughly an hour before kick-off.

Other than on the pitch playing for Wales or on the television, I’d only seen Gary Speed just the once close up in person, after Wales’ 2-0 victory over Switzerland at the Liberty Stadium. Obviously this was nowhere near enough time to make an accurate judge of his character but what I did see impressed me greatly. He stopped for countless photographs and to give autograph after autograph following the game outside the ground as several current players took the opportunity to dodge past and onto the bus. He even stayed so long that I had to leave before he had finished with the mob of children begging to shake his hand. Compiled with the years of interviews that I’d seen with him and this encounter, it was safe to say I was impressed with his character and he simply seemed like a nice person, something that seems to be sadly lacking at times at the top level of football.

The terrible news today shocked me far more than I thought it would. I suppose thinking about it; Gary Speed had indirectly been an idol of mine. He was playing even before I started to watch football; I’ve watched and supported him when representing Wales, for years I’ve witnessed his commitment to continue to be a top class player and professional at every club he’s played for.

The atmosphere at the Liberty was the most peculiar I’ve ever experienced. The crowd fell completely silent several minutes before Kevin Johns compared and led the players in paying their respects, then as the minute silence was started, a spontaneous minute of applause began.  It was actually a brilliantly fitting tribute for a footballer who shone so brilliantly for so many years to every football fan.

I’d love to take an opportunity to say thank you to the Aston Villa supporters who were at the Liberty too. Even if Gary Speed’s death didn’t affect them as directly as it hit me, throughout the match they conducted themselves wonderfully with a class that only the best of football fans can possess.

Please rest in peace Gary, know that you served Welsh football as well as anyone ever and inspired generations of football fans around the world. Please know that you were loved. Most importantly at this horrible time, I pray that his family are safe and are looked after; the thoughts of Swansea City and the world of football are with you all.

The most important Swansea City match ever?

Saturday’s match against Manchester United could be the most important game that Swansea City have played to date. This isn’t a claim that I would ever make easily, I was at the Vetch that day against Hull in 2003 and also at Wembley last season and I won’t need to explain the significance and contrasting rewards and consequences of each of those ninety minutes to anyone reading this. Similarly I could never discount the Preston match to gain promotion to the top flight the first time around, albeit occurring far before my time. Despite these colossal standout moments in Swansea City’s history, I still think this weekend could prove to be equally, if not more important.

Yes it’s essentially another Premier League match with just eleven against eleven and the standard three points on offer. However for Swansea it marks an all-important and crucial time and what could be the day that a city finally decides where its loyalties lie. Growing up in Swansea, I watched as the Premier League exploded around us while we languished at the bottom rung of the Football League ladder. 

The effects of the saturation of all media in Britain and then the world invariably took its toll on the people of Swansea, who were as drawn as the rest of the world to the glamour of the Sky driven coverage. Ask all but a few in Swansea just five or six years ago who they supported and their answer would normally be one of Manchester United, Liverpool or Arsenal, despite never having been within one hundred miles of their respective home grounds. Yet they all lived within ten to twenty miles of the Vetch Field or the Liberty.

The promotion to the Premier League and decent start to the season has already begun to challenge the loyalty of these ‘fans’ to the distant clubs that they support. Having every club that they’ve always dreamed of seeing literally on their doorstep has proven too tempting for some, with season tickets sold out long before the first match of the season.

Swansea City felt the need to send out earlier this week a release that was nothing short of a stark warning to those who may still hold an allegiance to Manchester United and will undoubtedly inform the other home matches against the powerhouses of the division. The warning read roughly that anyone wearing United colours in the home stands at the Liberty will be ejected from the ground and that all parts of the season ticket must be present to gain entry at all. I was delighted hearing these words from the club; here they’re standing up to its public and the people of Swansea and finally claiming its territory and fan base as its own.

I see this weekend’s match as potentially the most important in Swansea City’s history for that very reason. I believe that this weekend, the people of Swansea will finally wake up and have to choose between Swansea City and Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and the other giants. The club have finally found themselves in the position to play their hand; the ball is now in the court of the part time supporters. Do they support a side that play hundreds of miles away and see them in person at most a couple of times a season? Or do they finally pledge their allegiance to the side that service the city in which they live?

I made my choice leaving Wembley as a child after losing the Playoff Final in 1997 once and for all. If just a proportion of those still sitting on the fence with split allegiances can be convinced to abandon their part time clubs then this really could be the start of something truly special for Swansea and Swansea City FC. This one match against the Premier League Champions and the club which has dominated English football for my entire football watching life could spark generations of involved support which could be passed right throughout families. It takes a match of this magnitude to ‘turn’ these fans into supporters, the task that the rest of us are left with is to make the atmosphere as unforgettable and irresistible as that day that we first fell in love with the Vetch, and hope that it hooks them too.