Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Gary was branded a ‘traitor’.. but he’d lost respect for manager Howard over his drinking
GARY SPEED was deeply hurt by the abuse he received when he quit his boyhood club Everton to join Newcastle in 1998 amid insults like ‘traitor’ and ‘mercenary’.
Despite the anger, he refused to detail why he left, saying only that “there was a cloud hanging over the dressing room
– one I couldn’t accept.”
In ‘Gary Speed
Unspoken – The
Family’s Untold
Story’ journalist and close friend John Richardson reveals his exit was down to manager Howard Kendall’s drink problem.
Richardson writes in the book: “One of the most frustrating times I believe for both of us was the vitriol which came his way after leaving his boyhood team Everton for Newcastle United. He, like all the players, loved the legendary manager Howard Kendall (below), but said, ‘There was a cloud hanging over the dressing room – one I couldn’t accept – and so I left’.
“He was accused of being a traitor – and worse – by many incensed supporters who weren’t aware of what was going on behind the scenes at Goodison Park.
“Speedo stopped short of graphically stating his reasons for cutting short his stay at the club he had supported from the terraces.
“All I could push him on was revealing that the ‘manager’s physical state’ wasn’t the best and, as a professional footballer, he couldn’t accept that. Never once did he come out and say, despite all the abuse and threats, that Howard was battling with a drink problem. I kept prompting him that this was finally the time to put the record straight.
“He wouldn’t, but I have because his memory doesn’t deserve to be tarnished in any way and, in any case, most people in the game knew of Howard’s over-indulgence in alcohol.
“So for those who abused Speedo, and anyone still mystified by his determination to leave, here it is – he left because he lost respect for his manager and found it hard to continue playing under him.”
Kendall died in October 2015 at the age of 69.
Speed (right) told Richardson: “Despite the accusations, which first came my way from the Everton supporters, I didn’t join Newcastle for a penny more than
I had been earning at Goodison Park.
“What was even worse on a personal front was that just a few weeks later Newcastle faced my old club Everton at Goodison Park in a league game. Having been captain of Everton, I was seen as a Judas figure for seemingly walking out on my own people.
“As a precaution, Everton erected some steel shutters to protect the players’ entrance.
“Those shutters are still there to this day. ‘The Gary Speed gates’ the locals call them!
“The abuse reserved for me was unbelievable. I’ve never known anything like it during my life. The Everton fans were banging on the coach and shouting obscenities as it arrived.
“It was really horrible and hard to understand how I had created so much hatred. ‘S***house Speed’ was one of the calmest chants aimed at me.
“It obviously didn’t get any better when I walked out on the pitch. ‘There’s one greedy b ***** d’ boomed around the ground.
“It definitely affected me and I was nowhere near my best.
“At least over the years things have calmed down. People realise I’m still an Everton fan at heart and now I’m treated well whenever I go back to Goodison to watch a game or as a
TV pundit.”