Gary Speed
Gary Speed was probably few people's absolute favourite footballer. But he would have been in many people's Top 5 or Top 10, admired by supporters of all the clubs he played for and loved by his countrymen, and more importantly hated by no one. As a player he was for the most part unspectacular, a surging midfielder in his early years, he sat deeper as his career progressed, only embodying his surname while at Leeds United. He always had a sweet left foot and a good goal scoring ratio for a central midfielder, and was a notably good header of the ball. I once ranked him in the Top 10 players in the Premier League's history, but was, correctly, brought up on this. There have been too many other players who have excelled in the upper echelons, whereas Speed spent most of his career in the second tier of clubs, there and there abouts, but not champion material. Nevertheless, he was an outstanding international, and excellent for Newcastle United in their brief manifestation a