With less than a month to go until the Premier League season begins, Total Football’s Simon Wright is taking a look back at the players, teams and goals that have lit up the 20 years of what is widely regarded as the world's greatest league.
The next player featured in the Premier League icon series was a well-liked and respected footballer worldwide.
His death last November stunned the football community and left the world full of shock and sadness. This is the Premier League career and life of the late, Gary Speed.
Name: Gary Speed
Clubs he played for in the Premier League: Leeds United (1992-1996), Everton (1996-1998), Newcastle United (1998-2004), Bolton Wanderers (2004-2008)
Honours: Football League Championship winner in 1992, FA Cup finalist in 1998 & 1999 with Newcastle
Died: 27 November 2011 (aged 42)
PL Appearances: 535
Goals: 81
Gary Speed (pictured) was one of the most honest professionals in the game of football. When he died on 27 November 2011, no bad word could be said about his personality.
Whilst his death will always remain a mystery, it is his football career that should be looked back on.
Although major silverware eluded Gary on a regular basis, he won the final Football League championship with Leeds before the formation of the Premier League.
He took part in every Premier League campaign upto 2008 and before his death, was forging a burdening reputation as manager of the Wales national team.
Coming through
Speed came through the ranks at Leeds United and made his first team debut for the Yorkshire club, aged just 19.
He was part of the squad alongside the likes of Gary McAllister, Gordon Strachan and the flamboyant Eric Cantona to win the Football League championship in 1992.
This was the final season before the inception of the FA Premier League.
Leeds struggled in the early Premier League years but Speed’s reputation as a hard-working midfielder and an occasional goalscorer were being recognised, as he was named in the PFA Team of the Year in 1992-93, despite the club’s poor league finishing.
Two top five Premier League finishes followed at Elland Road, including ten league strikes in season 1993-94 but in the summer of 1996, Gary decided a new challenge was required and moved onto pastures new.
In the Premier League era, he made 143 starts for Leeds, scoring 22 times.
Boyhood dream at Everton
In the summer of 1996, Speed made a £3.5m move to Everton, fulfilling an ambition of playing for the club he supported as a boy.
Scoring on his debut against Newcastle, he netted his only Premier League hat-trick in a 7-1 battering of Southampton in November 1996.
He ended up as joint top goalscorer for the Toffees, scoring 11 in that season, to share the honour with Duncan Ferguson.
When Joe Royle left and was succeeded by Howard Kendall, the former Goodison Park legend made Speed the club captain.
It was a very mediocre period for the Blue side of Merseyside but Speed still made his mark, netting another seven goals in the first part of 1997-98.
His final match for the club was a home match with Chelsea in January 1998. Speed scored in the 3-1 victory but his relationship with Kendall had disintegrated and a few weeks later, made the move to Newcastle.
He left Everton in difficult circumstances but never said a bad word about the way he left; it just wasn’t in his character.
Six years on Tyneside
Kenny Dalglish signed Speed in February 1998 for £5.5m, making his debut for the club just 24 hours after signing.
He would go onto spend six years on Tyneside and it was probably his best period playing football.
Speed went onto feature in two successive FA Cup finals under Dalglish and Ruud Gullit but ended up on the losing side of both as Newcastle surrendered meekly to Arsenal and Manchester United respectively.
By now at the age of 34, Speed became an integral part of the Newcastle team under the guidance of Sir Bobby Robson and even managed to experience Champions League football, which included memorable victories over Juventus and Dynamo Kiev.
An ever-present in the 2003-04 campaign, it was a surprise to many when he was made surplus to requirements by Robson and he moved onto his final Premier League club.
Bolton the next port of call
The next port of call was Bolton Wanderers, with Sam Allardyce signing him for a bargain fee of just £750,000.
In Bolton’s 4-0 victory over West Ham in December 2006, Speed became the first player to make 500 Premier League appearances, which is an incredible feat and one that only David James and Ryan Giggs have bettered since.
He started every single match in 2004-05 and 2006-07, as Bolton quickly became an established member of the elite, fighting for European qualification on a regular basis rather than the usual relegation scramble.
When Allardyce quit in May 2007, Speed became a coach at the Reebok Stadium but stepped down months later to concentrate on playing.
He then moved away from the Premier League at the beginning of 2008, with his last goal in the top flight coming in a 3-0 win over Reading in August 2007.
After football
Following a brief spell playing for Sheffield United, injury forced Speed to retire from football in 2009, at the age of 40.
He wasn’t finished at Bramwall Lane and became Kevin Blackwell’s assistant, working on his coaching badges in the process.
When Blackwell was sacked at the beginning of the 2010-11 campaign, Speed took over the managerial reigns with the Blades but only won six of his 18 matches in charge as Sheffield United slipped towards eventual relegation from the Championship.
In December 2010, Gary signed a three-year deal to replace John Toshack as the coach of Wales.
Although Wales didn’t qualify for Euro 2012, he won five of his ten games in charge, which included impressive victories over Bulgaria, Montenegro and Switzerland, seeing the Welsh up 50 places in the FIFA World Rankings.
Shock
On 26 November 2011, Gary Speed appeared alongside his former championship winning team-mate Gary McAllister, on the BBC lunchtime magazine show, Football Focus.
He looked on fine form and positive throughout the programme, before going to see Newcastle’s creditable 1-1 draw with Manchester United alongside BBC pundit Alan Shearer.
Less than 24 hours later, he was found dead at his home in Cheshire, aged 42, sending a ripple of shock not just throughout the world of football but throughout the worldwide community.
Gary Speed made a positive impact on so many lives. He was a much respected personality and an inspirational leader for many of the clubs he played for.
He wasn’t the greatest footballer around but he was a determined individual and a true Premier League icon. Football has carried on but the world is a poorer place without Gary Speed in it.
NEXT TIME ON PREMIER LEAGUE ICONS: Joint-championship winning captain in the inaugural Premier League season, Steve Bruce
By Simon Wright - Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88
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