Gary Speed
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| Gary Speed | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Gary Speed | |
| Date of birth | September 8, 1969 (age 37) | |
| Place of birth | Mancot, Wales | |
| Height | 178 cm. | |
| Nickname | Speedo | |
| Playing position | Midfielder | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Bolton Wanderers | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1988-1996 1996-1998 1998-2004 2004- |
Leeds United Everton Newcastle United Bolton Wanderers |
248 (39) 58 (15) 213 (29) 100 (11) |
| National team2 | ||
| 1990-2004 | Wales | 85 (7) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Gary Speed (born September 8, 1969 in Mancot) is a Welsh footballer, who plays in midfield. He currently plays for Bolton Wanderers, after a £750,000 switch from Newcastle United in July 2004. He was also captain for the Welsh national team until he retired from international football in 2004 after the side's 3-2 defeat to Poland in a World Cup qualifier.
As a child, he went to Hawarden High School.
Speed began his career with Leeds United, winning the title with them in 1992. He moved to Everton in 1996, for a fee of £5,500,000. He then moved to Newcastle in 1998, and while there he became the club's most dependable midfielder. Newcastle's manager, Sir Bobby Robson, was sorry to see Speed leave the club, and acknowledged that he would do very well for Bolton.
He had been capped for Wales over 80 times, and holds the record for the most Premiership appearances. Besides being a strong tackler, Speed is noted for skill in set pieces, regularly scoring from them.
After his retirement from international football, he was recommended to take up the mantle of Wales' manager, by both the former manager Mark Hughes and fellow Welsh midfielder Robbie Savage. Bolton's manager Sam Allardyce has urged Speed to see out the rest of his 2 year contract with Bolton first. For his part, Speed has stated he will not apply for the position but would talk to the Welsh FA if approached. On 30 July 2006 it was announced that Speed had taken a part time coaching role in league 2 side Wrexham's academy.
On 9 September 2006 Speed scored the winning penalty for Bolton against Watford, making him one of only two players to score in every Premiership season. Ryan Giggs (also a Welsh footballer) of Manchester United is the other player to achieve this.
On 9 December 2006 Gary Speed played in Bolton's 4-0 victory over West Ham United. In doing so he became the first player in the history of the Premiership to play 500 games.
[edit] External links
| Bolton Wanderers F.C. - Current Squad |
|---|
|
1 Al Habsi | 2 Hunt | 4 Nolan | 5 Méïté | 6 Speed | 7 Stelios | 8 Campo | 9 Pedersen | 11 Gardner | 12 Walker | 14 Davies | 15 Thompson | 16 Andranik | 17 Fortune | 21 Diouf | 22 Jääskeläinen | 23 Tal | 24 O'Brien | 25 Faye | 26 Ben Haim | 27 César | 29 Harsányi | 31 Sinclair | 39 Anelka | 41 Fojut | 46 Jamieson | Manager: Allardyce |
