December 8, 2011

#40: Gary Speed

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Episode 40 of The Square Ball podcast is extended and, for its first half hour, unlike any episode before or since. Dan Moylan, Michael Normanton, Daniel Chapman (Moscowhite), and Paul O’Dowd (Oddy) had gone quiet for three weeks — in part because the magazine had to be torn up and rebuilt in 72 hours to cover Gary Speed’s death on 27 November, and in part because none of them knew how to walk into a studio 24 hours after the news broke and start making jokes.

All four hosts share where they were when they heard and what it felt like. Dan had been at the German market in Leeds city centre with his family; the first sign was Twitter notifications that didn’t quite register. The detail that hit hardest for many was the spontaneous applause during the minute’s silence at Swansea — and then, a few days later, the photograph of David Batty standing in the Elland Road centre circle, in tears. A man they had never expected to see cry. The Nottingham Forest game — a 4-0 win — is described as a release, an emotional exhale the crowd and the players needed together. The Millwall home game followed, patient and attritional, requiring a second-half reset after injuries disrupted the midfield.

The show discusses what Speed represented to supporters of the 1991-92 Leeds team: the glamour in a side built on grit, the exciting young player who charged down the left wing in the period kit that most people of a certain age still picture him in. Gordon Strachan’s voice cracking in a BBC radio interview. David Batty, who as a player had never shown any emotion on a football pitch, standing in the centre circle not hiding anything. Dan wrote a column for the magazine about it and reads from what he said.

White Watching then covers three wins from four: the smash-and-grab at Burnley where Snodgrass scored twice and Alex McCarthy’s goalkeeping proved the difference; the 2-0 home defeat to Barnsley, which was poor and was then put into a different context by the news that broke the following Sunday morning; the Forest 4-0; and the Millwall win. Snodgrass has five goals in four games and his contract is the pressing topic. Andy O’Brien has reportedly told a journalist that Simon Grayson is the worst manager he has ever played for. The show’s assessment of O’Brien’s judgment is brief and unkind. Rachubka is out on loan at Tranmere; Maik Taylor, aged 40, has been signed. The FA Cup third round has produced an Arsenal home tie.