GARY SPEED

There is a story which says everything about Speedo’s love for Wales.

Whenever he drove home to team up with the Welsh camp, be that a journey from Leeds, Everton or Newcastle, he would always stick on Tom Jones’ hit The Green Green Grass Of Home as soon as he reached the England-Wales border.

His is another whose passion burned deep. He was some player too. Always a seven out of 10, often an eight, sometimes even a nine.

Others may have hogged the back page headlines, but Speed was the glue holding Wales together for 14 years, from the time he made his debut against Costa Rica in 1990 to his final cap, a 3-2 World Cup qualifying loss to Poland in 2004.

In between Speed did . . . well he did pretty much everything. Made the tackles, won the headers, sprayed the passes, scored the occasional important goal. He was key at set-pieces in either penalty box, he captained his country with aplomb, he made most appearances for a Wales outfield player, until Chris Gunter took the record.

Early on, he played a swashbuckling role rampaging forward from the left. For the most part he was a midfield kingpin. For a couple of years he dropped to leftback so Mark Hughes, as manager, could accommodate others in midfield. Never can anyone have looked so comfortable in a defensive role. Speedo just sailed it.

In his case versatility was a strength, not a weakness. A place always had to be found for him in the starting XI. When he was missing, which wasn’t very often, to be fair, his absence was really noted by the players.

Further cemented his legend status, of course, with a spell as manager which was way too brief.

Played most of his club football at the top level with Leeds, Everton, Newcastle and Bolton.

True icon. No need to say any more.