FLINTSHIRE, Wales and the world of football yesterday lost one of the best.
I can’t think of anyone throughout football who had a bad word to say about Gary Speed. He was the ultimate professional.


He played football at the very top, broke Premier League appearance records, showed tremendous loyalty to Wales as a player and how sad that he passes away at a time when he has given the Welsh nation real hope of reaching the World Cup Finals.
 

I penned a Gary Speed column in the Leader for two years – and he was only too willing to give a little back to the newspaper that he used to deliver as a boy.
How that column came about was also typical of the what a decent guy he was.
 

It was in a bar on Vilamoura in Portugal and Speed was with Alan Shearer, Shay Given, Terry McDermott and Steve Harper on a golfing trip. It was two in the morning and he chatted all night to myself and the rest of the lads that were on our golfing break.


I told him that I was sports editor for The Leader and asked whether he’d fancy writing a column in the paper.
 

“I’m not too bothered about money – just make a contribution to my gran’s Deeside Hospital League of Friends fund,” said Speed.
 

Two months later I rang him. He hadn’t forgotten; he didn’t try to fob me off and his column, just like his sporting life, was a huge success.
 

Football has lost one of the good guys and what better incentive have the Wales players got to spur them on to reach the 2014 World Cup finals tournament.