Another Dragon Falls – Gary Speed

Gary Andrew Speed, known for his football ability and architecture of the next generation of Welsh footballers, sadly passed away in the early hours of November 27th 2011. Speed, only 42 years old, committed suicide by hanging himself, leaving behind a wife and two young sons.

Speed, the most recent manager of Wales, has recently been praised highly for his work in recent months, leading Wales up the FIFA World Rankings table. At a time when Wales have started to gather momentum with their national team, this has come as a massive shock to both the football community and the Welsh population, as it appeared that Speed and his lads were moving in all the right directions.

Due to Speeds reputation in the game, floods of messages have been sent out in his memory after the news broke. Celtic FC and Wales international team player, Joe Ledly, has expressed his sadness through Twitter saying:

So saddened by the loss of a great guy, manager & footballer. It was a pleasure to work under him. My thoughts are with his family.

Numerous other members of the football community have expressed feelings towards the former Leeds, Everton, Newcastle United, Bolton Wanderers and Sheffield United midfielder. Real Madrid's Xabi Alonso, Manchester Uniteds Michael Owen, Arsenals Jack Wilshire, Evertons Tim Cahill, Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish, former footballers Robbie Savage and SkySports pundit Gary Neville have all paid their respects to Speed in one way or another.

Lone Welsh side Swansea City continued ahead with their game against Aston Villa but both sets of fans joined in with choruses of ' One Gary Speed, there's only one Gary Speed,' before and during the match. Before the match began, friend of Gary Speed, Aston Villa keeper Shay Given, had to compose himself on touchline in order to continue with the match. There was also a minute of silence by both teams along with a moving testament to Speed by the Liberty Stadium announcer.

The Welsh Football Federation will start a search for a replacement for the former Welsh hero, though a replacement for such a man will be very hard to come by. With the football world left numb, many memorials will come in for the Welshman who took his own life for reasons unknown.

Wales will now start their route to Brazil with a new incentive to win, in honour of the late Gary Speed, the man who taught football how to smile.