Sometimes in the game we passionately love an incident comes along that completely puts everything into perspective, and yesterday the world of football mourned the death of footballing legend Gary Speed.

Normally before I set off to the County Ground on a Saturday I’ll watch Football Focus like a lot of other football fans, as I’m sure you all know Gary Speed and Gary McAllister were the two guests alongside Dan Walker this past Saturday and its incredible to think that less than 24 hours later Gary would no longer be with us.

As Town fans we have some idea of how the fans at the Liberty Stadium felt yesterday morning when they heard the awful news then watched their teams play.

During the early part of the 2002-03 season Town had a player called Jimmy Davis on loan from Manchester United, even though he wasn’t at the club long he made a huge impact and became an instant fans favourite.

Unfortunately due to a slight injury among other reasons Alex Ferguson decided not to let Jimmy extend his deal at Town and after 15 games and 3 goals he returned to Manchester.

The next season Jimmy was loaned out to Watford and while he was traveling to make his debut for the Hornets he was involved in a car crash and he lost his life that morning at the age of 21.

The same day Town were playing Sheffield Wednesday at a packed County Ground, the news of Jimmy’s death wasn’t confirmed to the public but the Swindon Town players had been told before the game and before we knew it Town we 3-0 down within 25 minutes.

During the afternoon the news started to be confirmed and I remember feeling numb and confused that this young great guy was gone.

A couple of weeks later his family were guests at the County Ground and I remember Jimmy’s mum making an emotional speech before the game, Throughout the afternoon “there’s only one Jimmy Davis,” echoed around the ground.

Town won the game 4-0 which was the perfect ending to an emotional day at the County Ground.

As Swindon fans we have some sense of how thousands of football fans feel waking up this morning who saw Gary play week in week out, it’s a strange feeling because even though you don’t know the person you still felt like you did by watching them every week on the pitch.

With Gary Speed playing nearly all his professional career in the top flight i never got a chance to see him in action at the County Ground but from what I’ve seen on TV over the years he was a proper player and also a true gent off the field.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the whole Speed family and his friends at this tragic time.

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