It is strange being a football fan and how it makes you feel about certain players. I would have never expected to be feeling as upset and emotional as I am today over the tragic death of a player who was only at Everton for less than two years and left us over 13 years ago, but I have spent most of the day crying at the tributes being made to Gary Speed and reminiscing of his time at Everton.
The signing of Gary Speed was the first time I can remember us signing someone who was one of us, an Evertonian, so instantly that made me love him. He was genuinely so thrilled to be joining his boyhood club, how could I not like him.
His debut against Newcastle United at Goodison in 1996 was meant to be about another player making his debut for his boyhood club in what was then a record transfer fee. Yes, the headlines were about the boyhood fan not only playing but scoring for the club he’d always supported but it wasn’t Alan Shearer they were talking about, it was Gary Speed. He scored the first of his 18 goals for us in front of the Gwladys Street end, where he used to stand watching us in the 80’s. There must be no greater feeling for an Evertonian than scoring at Goodison, and he had managed to do it within half an hour of making his first appearance.
My other abiding memory of Gary Speed, is his equaliser at Anfield, possibly the second best feeling for any Evertonian to experience. This came in the days before I went to the aways and I was at home hiding from the score updates (like I still do now), and I just remember my mum checking teletext and shouting into me (I was hiding in the kitchen) “Speed rescues a point for Everton”, I was so happy.
Logging onto the official website today, the club have put up the video of the demolition of Southampton, a game which Speed scored his only hat-trick. I remember being at that game and the only goals I could clearly remember before looking at that video was Speed’s 2nd and 3rd goals. The other thing that struck me from looking at that video was what a great midfield we had back then. Kanchelskis, Barmby, Parkinson and Speed. They’d walk into many a Premiership team then and now.
I met him once, coming out of Goodison during a pre-season tournament. He’d scored for us that day and I told him that he scored a great goal (I don’t think it was a particularly great goal, but I was a tongue-tied 15 year old girl, who didn’t know what else to say to one her idols), he was very friendly and approachable and made me feel like I hadn’t just made a total idiot of myself.
When he left, I was gutted; he was such a vital player to us. I will admit I was angry with him for wanting to leave us when we were in such a state at the bottom of the league, but I have since come to realise that there was a lot more to that story than the one we were told at the time. He kept a dignified silence to protect the club that he loved, and in doing so, he tarnished his own reputation amongst the Everton fans who up until then had admired and loved him so much. He returned to Goodison with Newcastle and Bolton, and came in for quite a bit of abuse from the crowd, but even despite this, he still kept his silence so not to drag the club, the club he still referred to as “us” through the mud. Only someone who was a true Evertonian would do that. Even when he scored a penalty for Bolton, he showed dignity and respect to the club, there was no celebrating by him, unlike a certain other ex Evertonian striker. He regained a lot of respect back from Evertonians for this.
What is making me even more upset over his tragic death is that I only saw him at Goodison last Saturday. He had parked in the Gwladys Street school car park, like I had. He was getting photographs taken and signing autographs and for kids, still the same approachable, friendly fella I’d met all those years ago. In a way, I suppose it is a nice thought that one of the last games he saw, was back at the ground that he loved and he saw his team win.
This is the first death of an ex Everton player that I actually remember watching, and a player who in his short time with us I loved. I was upset by the deaths of Labone and Ball as I’d been brought up with tales of these two, but this is something so different, it has really has hit me hard and left me feeling numb. It's just so tragic as he seemed to have a great career in management ahead of him. My thoughts are with his wife, two sons and family.
I hope and I am sure he will get the send off he deserves at his beloved Goodison on Sunday. Seeing the tributes already on the Park End gates for him, there is no doubt that Everton and the rest of the football world will give Gary the tribute and respect he fully deserves.
Gary Speed, a great Everton player and more importantly a great Evertonian, who should be remembered for being that, may you rest in peace, Gary
