Gary Speed

Gary Speed (born September 8, 1969 in Mancot) is a
Wales|Welsh football (soccer)|footballer, who
plays in midfielder|midfield. He currently plays
for Bolton Wanderers F.C., after a £750,000
switch from Newcastle United F.C. in July 2004. He
was also captain for the Wales national football
team|Welsh national team until recently, where he
retired from international football after the
side's 3-2 defeat to Poland national football
team|Poland in a Football World Cup 2006|World Cup
qualifier.

Speed began his career with Leeds United F.C.,
winning the title with them in 1992. He moved to
Everton F.C. 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 FA Premier
League|Premiership appearances. Besides being a
strong tackler, Speed is noted for skill in set
pieces, often 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 Football Association of Wales|Welsh FA if
approached.