Gary Speed
It kind of feels weird this thread swaying between discussions about mental health and depression, and Speed's attributes as a footballer, but it's kind of unavoidable. And I like what Dalliance and BOE have said recently on the latter subject.
For all that Dalliance has a point about how he was initially shoe-horned into quite old-fashioned formations, he still made a massive difference as a wide player to Howard Wilkinson's Leeds (who I watched a fair bit back then, being based in the city at the time). The side that went up in 1990 was a pretty ugly and functional side, whose main idea of width appeared to be Mel Sterland bombing on in traditional British stylee. Speed's arrival on the scene the following season massively helped in changing all that, and Leeds were a much more swift and entertaining side between 90 and 92 than they are often given credit for.
It kind of feels weird this thread swaying between discussions about mental health and depression, and Speed's attributes as a footballer, but it's kind of unavoidable. And I like what Dalliance and BOE have said recently on the latter subject.
For all that Dalliance has a point about how he was initially shoe-horned into quite old-fashioned formations, he still made a massive difference as a wide player to Howard Wilkinson's Leeds (who I watched a fair bit back then, being based in the city at the time). The side that went up in 1990 was a pretty ugly and functional side, whose main idea of width appeared to be Mel Sterland bombing on in traditional British stylee. Speed's arrival on the scene the following season massively helped in changing all that, and Leeds were a much more swift and entertaining side between 90 and 92 than they are often given credit for.
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