The death of Wales manager and Premier League stalwart Gary Speed rocked the sporting world on Sunday afternoon. Here are the key numbers from his life in football.
3 years and 2 days: His death came almost three years to the day after his last game as a footballer, in Sheffield United’s 3-1 defeat to Wolves in November 2008. Despite that, he didn’t announce his retirement as a player until 18 months later at the end of the 2009/10 season
22 years, 7 months, 24 days: His age when he helped Leeds United to the Football League title in 1992, the last season before the formation of the Premier League. His fellow midfielders in that side included Gary McAllister
4: Number of top flight clubs he played for – Leeds, Everton, Newcastle and Bolton. He went on to play in the Championship for Sheffield United, who he also managed
777: The number of competitive league and cup games he played in
17: Seasons in the top flight, straddling the Division One and Premier League eras
1st player to make 500 Premier League appearances, a milestone he reached in December 2006
535: Premier League appearances, which set a record that David James and Ryan Giggs subsequently eclipsed
1 in 6: His goals per game ratio throughout his career (127 goals in 777 games), an exceptional record for a box-to-box midfielder
4: Losing Wembley appearances. Speed was part of the Newcastle side that lost FA Cup finals to Arsenal and Manchester United in 1998 and ’99 and was also on the Leeds side in the 3-0 League Cup final defeat to Aston Villa in ’96. He returned to Wembley as manager of Wales this year, but was again on the wrong end of a 3-0 defeat to England
£5.5m: His biggest transfer fee, which Newcastle paid Everton in 1998. Everton had signed Speed from Leeds for £3.5m two years previously
10: International games as manager – he replaced John Toshack as Wales boss late last year
67: The number of world ranking places Wales climbed during the final three months of Speed’s all-too-brief time in charge. The Welsh were 117th in the world in August but are listed at 50th in the latest list published Fifa following four wins from their last five games
39%: His win percentage as a manager. Sheffield United won six of the 18 games in which Speed was in charge, while Wales won half of their 10
1: MBE. Awarded in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2010 for services to football
85: Caps for Wales between 1990 and 2004. As a comparison to underline his commitment to the cause, Speed’s approximate contemporary Ryan Giggs played just 64 internationals in a 16-year international career
2nd most capped Wales player after long-serving former Everton goalkeeper Neville Southall
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