RIP Gary Speed - Mod Note 292

RasTa

I got a PM from a new user who asked me to post this on his behalf

wonderfulllife wrote:

RIP Gary Speed. Fantastic pro.

Such a shame a Welsh side containing at times Speed, Rush, Giggs, Hartson etc never made it to the big stage, which in truth makes me glad we have seen Duff, Keane x2, Given etc at a major tournament. Not as often as we'd like but that's another days discussion.

I view Gary as a Welsh Roy Keane, in that he had no fancy Ronaldo tricks and skills, but gave it 100% on the pitch, an excellent good passer with a good shot on him, a great header and maximised the ability he had. Similar to Keane, a different type of personality with the same skillset would not have succeeded as a professional.


I've read the thread with interest but can't post on the forum. I'd just like to say a few things:

Personally, I dont believe for one minute Gary Speed suffered any underlying mental health issues. I'll get to that in a minute. I am glad, however, it has highlighted the mental health issue. Even bad debate on a good issue is, at least, debate.

I'm 29 years old and i suffer from depression, panic disorder and an anxiety related cluster of personality disorder. I have been treated over the years with medications (lexapro, xanax, propranolol, klonopin) and am in the early stages of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). Life has been challenging for me in recent years but i view my illnesses as a temporary wheelchair for my mind. It's a fact of life that an actual wheelchair user will get more sympathy and support than someone with a mental problem, people respond better to the visual versus the unseen. I don't think the phrases "man up", "we all have problems", "stop being so lazy" would be directed at a wheelchair user.

I'm probably a 'normal' 29 year old in many respects, few hundred facebook friends, when i do go out on weekends i'm "1 of the lads" upbeat, having the craic. Of course i dont have 300 real friends and probably like everyone on social networking i have a small handful of close friends and another couple hundred i either went to school with, see in the pub now and again etc. In any case, of all those 'friends' who know me in some capacity, very few know of my problems. The battle with depression, as Stan Collymore alluded to, means when i do manage to get out i am usually on good form. They don't "get it" simply because there is nothing "to get". They see me drunk in Reillys or Coppers or somewhere in town getting pissed!

So, in that sense, it may seem plausible to a lot of you that Speed suffered an underlying mental illness.

The reality, for me at least, is this: It is impossible to harbour clinical depression and anxiety without close loved ones being aware of it. There have been days, weeks even, where i have been bed-bound. Taking a shower is an ordeal, brushing my teeth seems about as easy as Quantum Physics, eating and sleeping are challenges. Anybody who has gone through this terrible illness can testify to this. The simple things are not simple anymore. I've gone through periods of "being strong", of "hiding it away" or "man'ing up" but the bottom line is that, on a basic behavioural level, your loved ones will always know/suspect/worry.

There have been literally hundreds of testimonials from Gary Speeds friends, colleagues, journalists etc as to his positive, upbeat state of mind over his entire life, but most telling is that his wife, father and close family had no knowledge whatsoever of any depression related problems. There is simply no way that this has been a long term illness covered up by a "strong" man.

Whether it comes out or not, i believe this is a situation where a specific event has triggered such a heartbreaking situation. It's irrelevant on a certain level when a man has died but i won't be shocked by a shocking revelation coming out. Or something seemingly trivial to us that was important to him. Ryan Giggs, Tiger Woods, Bernie Madoff, Salaman Butt, Michelle de Bruin....whatever your opinion of that list, there's an admirable strength required to cope when the life you knew has imploded, self-inflicted or otherwise. A different person, a different mentality and it could be a tipping point.

I'm just glad that this has encouraged debate on mental health. I remember when Katy French died i was glued to Boards looking at the reaction. In between the "never heard of her" or "who cares", some genuinely good debate on drug use/misuse came out of that sad situation. Gary Speed is univerally liked, it seems, thankfully no negative bashing going on, but still prompting the same debate - a tiny positive to take out of a sad situation.

If you know anybody acting a bit off, a bit down or depressed, SOMETIMES the appropriate response IS "man up, lets go for a pint". People have bad days, they have bad weeks, it doesn't make them depressed and you don't need to phone the Samaritans!

On the other hand if you know somebody suffering from depression, remember this: "Stop feeling sorry for yourself", "we all have problems", "catch on to yourself and get out of bed ya lazy bollix" etc is not help. During some of my darkest times, a close friend used to call around and physically come to my bedroom saying "right we're going for a walk". And we would go for a walk and during the walk i'd be hating him for putting me through this when i just wanted my bed. But without friends like him, i don't know where i would be. We all have busy lives and problems, and it's a recession. Going for a walk, making a phone call, lending an ear instead of giving an earfull.....these are all cheap or free and, trust me, the person might not thank you for it at the time but it will help them.

RIP gary. In the spirit of my post and with Xmas upcoming i'll leave you with this. Thanks, God Bless.

"Remember no man is a failure who has friends" - It's A Wonderful Life (1946)

Blatter

^^^

Superb post and it is something that had crossed my mind with regards Gary Speed.

It's very plausible(and well known) that sufferers of depression can hide their disease to most people on the outside. But with regards hiding it from your close friends and family members, it does seem unlikely that they wouldn't pick up on at least some of the symptoms. Especially if the actual depression was horrendous enough for the sufferer to contemplate and indeed commit suicide.

People can and do commit suicide due to pressure and stress, which is different from depression. Obviously I'm not an expert, so I personally can't tell whether it was possible Gary Speed was depressed or not, but it did cross my mind that he may not have been, after some reflection.

Regardless of the true facts, facts that we may never learn, the discussion it has stimulated on mental health is probably the only good thing that will come of this awful tragedy.

efb

I want to apologize for being part of the discussion that dragged this thread off topic, my views remain steadfast but this wasn't/isn't the correct thread for a discussion of that nature. If the mods remove all the posts I certainly would understand.

It's been a very emotional few days for me, as I'm sure it's been for a lot on here.

Gods Speed, Gary Speed. RIP

Liam O

Liam O wrote: »

The fact that there's no note or anything(released so far anyway) just adds to the mystery.

I had a cousin who committed suicide in similar circumstances. He was a very happy person and then one day his parents came home and found him dead, completely out of the blue as he was out socialising with the family just a day before. I was very angry at him for that as I seen the effect it had on the people he left behind and while I feel I should be angry at Speed for being so selfish, I just find it hard to feel anger at Speed for some reason. He just doesn't seem like the type of guy and seemed to not be depressed at all. It's a really strange thing and seemed to be without reason at all.

Liam O wrote: »

I don't know tbh, someone killing themselves in that fashion is quite selfish imo when you think about the young family he is leaving behind now probably emotionally scarred for life, obviously I don't know what was going on behind closed doors and I don't like disrespecting the dead but suicide really just gets to me. I'm saying this out of my own family's experience because I found myself quite angry at my cousin's stupidy to the point where those feelings almost cancelled out my sadness. Depression is a horrible thing obviously but suicide is a terrible decision imo and even though I know it is a sensitive subject and affects many, I honestly can't imagine ever being in any type of situation bar maybe a terminal illness and be able to go through with it.

I cringe when I hear people calling suicide a "selfish act".

GavRedKing

Just want to pay my respects to a EPL great. Alwatys gave his all and left everything out on the pitch.

No matter what the circumstances surronding his death the world has losta talent and a family have lost a son, father, husband.

RIP Gary.

Leeds fans plan to sing his name for 11 mins from the 11th minute in their match away to Forest.

Nice touch.

Joey Barton rant on Twitter brandishing suicide selfish. Not the cleverest guy.

PREMIERSHIP footballer Joey Barton has provoked much criticism by calling the weekend suicide of Welsh manager Gary Speed ‘selfish’.
The Queens Park Rangers captain refused to apologise for his insensitive comments despite an outcry from others on the social networking site.
Garry Speed’s wife Louise found his body hanged in the garage of their luxury home on Sunday.
On Twitter, Barton wrote: “Just hearing about Gary Speed, to say am shocked is an understatement. My thoughts are with his family.”
But he soon followed up with: “Suicide is a mix of the most tragic, most selfish, most terrible (and I want to believe preventable) acts out there.”
When other users objected to his views he responded: “Feedback on here, small minority as usual strongly disagree with what I said. If they read carefully or had half a brain, they'd understand.”
Football fans and suicide prevention groups criticised Barton’s comments, according to the Daily Mail.
Malcolm Clarke - chairman of the Football Supporters' Federation told the Daily Star: “This is completely insensitive and inappropriate. It is disrespectful to Gary's family. We should be concentrating on the positive impact he made on the game at a time like this.”
Counsellor Beth Neil, from the Welsh branch of Survivors of Bereavement By Suicide, added: “He has no idea what kind of trauma Gary was going through. This is just sick.”
Joey Barton is no stranger to controversy with a career marked by disciplinary problems.
He was sentenced to six months' imprisonment in 2008 for assault during an incident outside a McDonald’s restaurant in Liverpool and served 77 days in jail.
He was also given a four months suspended sentence after admitting assault occasioning actual bodily harm on former teammate Ousmane Dabo during a training ground dispute in an incident that ended his Manchester City career

http://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/twitter-rant-on-speed-suicide-calling-him-lsquoselfishrsquo-sparks-fury-2948237.html

madma

Blatter wrote: »

^^^

Superb post and it is something that had crossed my mind with regards Gary Speed.

It's very plausible(and well known) that sufferers of depression can hide their disease to most people on the outside. But with regards hiding it from your close friends and family members, it does seem unlikely that they wouldn't pick up on at least some of the symptoms. Especially if the actual depression was horrendous enough for the sufferer to contemplate and indeed commit suicide.

People can and do commit suicide due to pressure and stress, which is different from depression. Obviously I'm not an expert, so I personally can't tell whether it was possible Gary Speed was depressed or not, but it did cross my mind that he may not have been, after some reflection.

Regardless of the true facts, facts that we may never learn, the discussion it has stimulated on mental health is probably the only good thing that will come of this awful tragedy.

actually agree with that poster thats not on this forum and good to read that others think that too as all over the news,papers,forums etc is just depression is said to be the reason. there is more to it that that and whether that is found out is another thing, not going to speculate as this is a tribute thread and he was a great player and bloke, just hope its found out and for the public too.

SlickRic

RIP.

a smashing player, one that was really underrated in his time. yes, he's a legend at each of the clubs he's been at, but i don't think he got half the recognition he deserves elsewhere for what a truly remarkable professional, as well as talented footballer, he was.

depression is an illness close to my family, and it's one that is so difficult for those on the outside to understand. it grips tightly to the person, and is so difficult to loosen. for those around as well, it's so hard, because when you don't understand what's going on inside a person's head, it's so easy to become a number of things...be it complacent in not giving the support the person maybe needs, or impatient in wanting the person to "snap out of it".

it's something so few really understand, and i certainly don't yet. but what this has honestly taught me so far, is that it's never wrong to get alongside someone, even if you don't think they need it, or if you think you have little to offer...your guidance, love and support can mean everything to someone, and be the difference in which way that person turns.

i don't know Gary Speed's circumstances. i don't know his family or friends. i don't know the support he's had for what we're all assuming is this illness he had. but i have no doubt after seeing the outpouring from so many of those close to him, that he was privileged to have many around him who loved him and supported him. what they must be going through now is horrific. the questions they must be asking of themselves, "what could i have done?!", "what if i'd done this?"...etc.

i've faith he had great people around him, and all it shows is just how deadly depression can be.

i don't believe depression is always selfish, or always selfless. it's not a black and white issue. but it's not a debate anybody should be having, or even alluding to, a couple of days after the tragedy. that is for another day.

what i do know, is that my memories of Gary Speed are ones of a model professional, a wand of a left foot, and a willingness to sacrifice for the shirt on his back that ultimately made him captain of any club he joined. i think it was Cam Newton who said that he's always just "been there". he was a constant. a football man. a legend.

you really don't know what you've got 'till it's gone.

as i say, legend.

rarnes1

rarnes1 wrote: »

Joey Barton rant on Twitter brandishing suicide selfish. Not the cleverest guy.



http://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/twitter-rant-on-speed-suicide-calling-him-lsquoselfishrsquo-sparks-fury-2948237.html

pretty much my feelings on the subject tbh, don't see how what he said was 'sick'. As usual people only read part of what he says and make out that's the only thing he's saying. He also said it was tragic and his thoughts are with the family. Obviously it's a terrible thing and I feel sorry for him and his family but there are many other ways of dealing with it than suicide and I'm willing to celebrate his life rather than focus on his death and I wont pretend to be able to comprehend what he was going through.

nacho libre

Liam O wrote: »

pretty much my feelings on the subject tbh, don't see how what he said was 'sick'. As usual people only read part of what he says and make out that's the only thing he's saying. He also said it was tragic and his thoughts are with the family. Obviously it's a terrible thing and I feel sorry for him and his family but there are many other ways of dealing with it than suicide and I'm willing to celebrate his life rather than focus on his death and I wont pretend to be able to comprehend what he was going through.

There are always many other ways to deal it for the outsider.
Also the idea that if you are truly depressed, people close to you will have to know isn't always true.
Some depressed person have a remarkable ability to conceal it from others, even people close to them.

It's natural for those left behind to beat themselves for not spotting something was up, but sadly sometimes there is nothing you can do.

Personally I hope for Speed's family sake, why he did it remains a mystery

Bodhisopha

nacho libre wrote: »

There are always many other ways to deal it for the outsider.
Also the idea that you if you are truly depressed, people close to you will have to know isn't always true.
Some depressed person have a remarkable ability to conceal it from others, even people close to them.

It's natural for those left behind to beat themselves for not spotting something was up, but sadly sometimes there is nothing you can do.

Personally I hope for Speed's family sake, why he did it remains a mystery

To them or the outside world or everybody?

I am pie

I am have to say i am disappointed in myself in being so morbidly curious why this tragic incident ocurred. Hopefully we never find out, as soon it someone does it will leaked via twitter and via online gossip sites.

Good bless those he left behind, what a sad event.

TeRmInAlCrAzY

nacho libre wrote: »

Also the idea that you if you are truly depressed, people close to you will have to know isn't always true.
Some depressed person have a remarkable ability to conceal it from others, even people close to them.

This.

We had a hard time with my brother, we could never really tell if he was up or down. And you'd think, being family, that it would be easy.

Nerp.

nacho libre

Bodhisopha wrote: »

To them or the outside world or everybody?

Obviously for their sake first and foremost. Of course if something leaks they won't be somehow shielded from it

Rikand

TeRmInAlCrAzY wrote: »

This.

We had a hard time with my brother, we could never really tell if he was up or down. And you'd think, being family, that it would be easy.

Nerp.

It was the same with a friend of mine. he attempted it a couple of times unsuccessfully and the night before he actually killed himself he was at my birthday party. He came back to the house for the house-party and everything. Was in the best of spirits. You never know.

Warper

Suicide is the worst form of death. The devastation can lead to more deaths. The guilt that is left behind can become too much to take. You would never ever stop wondering why?

Depression is an awful disease but there is help out there for it. Whether it be drugs, counselling or whatever, its out there. It may not work but for the sake of you, your family/friends, you have to go for it. No one only Gary Speed will know what was going on his head and the obviously awful facade he was leading. It must have been hell on earth.

Selfish is an inappropriate word for it as he ultimately probably thought it best for everyone incl. himself if he was dead. I don't know if he ever saw a doctor regarding his depression but he should have. Only then could he see light at the end of the tunnel for himself and his family. Now its darkness followed by even more darkness.

Savman

I see Joey Barton wastes no opportunity to enhance his fine reputation. A deplorable human being if ever there was one IMHO.

quarryman

Why do people keep banging on about depression?

There has been no evidence of it and no statement made. In fact, none of his closest friends are acknowledging it as a factor.

With many suicides involving "celebrities" it quickly becomes apparent that the deceased was suffering in some way, Robert Enke, Cobain, Ian Curtis etc.

Not in this case.

It would be much better if people stopped assuming depression was the cause based on zero evidence. It's disrespectful.

RIP Gary. Great to hear the Leeds support tonight.

madma

quarryman wrote: »

Why do people keep banging on about depression?

There has been no evidence of it and no statement made. In fact, none of his closest friends are acknowledging it as a factor.

With many suicides involving "celebrities" it quickly becomes apparent that the deceased was suffering in some way, Robert Enke, Cobain, Ian Curtis etc.

It would be much better if people stopped assuming depression was the cause based on zero evidence.

RIP Gary. Great to hear the Leeds support tonight.

exactly.

its brought up that thread over in after hours too, there is zero evidence but people are just assuming,
there is more to this than marking it off as depression.

M5

Savman wrote: »

I see Joey Barton wastes no opportunity to enhance his fine reputation. A deplorable human being if ever there was one IMHO.

you may want to read that quote again.....

jakdublin

quarryman wrote: »

Why do people keep banging on about depression?

There has been no evidence of it and no statement made. In fact, none of his closest friends are acknowledging it as a factor.

With many suicides involving "celebrities" it quickly becomes apparent that the deceased was suffering in some way, Robert Enke, Cobain, Ian Curtis etc.

Not in this case.

It would be much better if people stopped assuming depression was the cause based on zero evidence. It's disrespectful.

RIP Gary. Great to hear the Leeds support tonight.

Correct. As it stands it's a complete bolt out of the blue. No classic signs of depression at all. At the moment it's just a total mystery, and as much as we dislike not knowing, we don't. Got my tribute jersey today and I'll honour the man by wearing it proudly at Elland Road on Saturday. Great to hear the fans chanting his name tonight.

SarahBM

Leeds fans are amazing tonight!!! and Snodgrass scoring during the 11minutes for Gary Speed! just brilliant!! so proud to be Leeds tonight, Gary I hope your watching.

fryup

quarryman wrote: »

Why do people keep banging on about depression?

There has been no evidence of it and no statement made. In fact, none of his closest friends are acknowledging it as a factor.

exactly, here's what i said in the other thread in after hours

Neil3030

Really good piece in The Score:

AS NEWS OF Gary Speed’s suicide broke this weekend, and news agencies set about the slightly grotesque business of canvassing bereaved colleagues and friends of the Premier League veteran for “tributes” and responses, one couldn’t but be struck by the frequency with which the relevant interviewees were drawn down the logical cul-de-sac of considering the event itself in terms of the victim’s manifold achievements.


Shay Given and his Aston Villa teammates during the minute's silence for Gary Speed on Sunday. The inquest into his death opens today.

At 42 years of age, Speed was enjoying spectacular success as the manager of the Welsh international football team, he could look back with pride on one of the longest careers in Premier League history and had, over the course of the his 20 years as a professional footballer, earned 85 caps for his national team.

Not only that, but as a husband and father of two young children, he could boast of a settled home life far removed, it seemed, from the clichés of top-flight football.

But to insist on setting his suicide against a limited selection of material factors doesn’t just do the memory Gary Speed a disservice, it hinders both our broader understanding and treatment of the illness to which he likely succumbed.

No one knows what was going on in Gary Speed’s head.
But the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that approximately 121 million are currently people living with depression worldwide. At some point in the next decade, the illness will rise to second place on the index that calculates what’s known as “the global burden of disease”.

To put the scale of the pandemic in more accessible terms, Irish charity Aware believe as many as one-in-four residents of the Republic are currently affected by it, be that either directly or through contact with a spouse, family member or close friend.

The great tragedy of depression as an illness, however, isn’t its prevalence, exactly, but the frequency with which sufferers fail to receive adequate treatment. It’s a point Aware’s Kevin Smith is keen to emphasise:

“Like any other illness, the earlier it’s dealt with, the better chance there is of a quick recovery. Most people who seek help will recover. It’s one of the most prominent mental health illnesses, but it’s also the most treatable.”

Ad campaigns and improved access to treatment have begun the slow business of overturning antiquated associations of mental illness with weakness, but the stigma attached to depression is still particularly strong, and nowhere is that more clearly evident than the results-driven, cliché-ridden world of professional sport.

Modern life is often assailed for its knack of reducing living, breathing human beings to mere instruments in a mechanical process, but it’s in sport that this narrowing of human experience really achieves its potential.

A relentless, career-long pursuit of physical excellence, the athletic conveyor belt doesn’t just marginalise mental health, it traps would-be sufferers in a web of outdated expectations and unreasonable personal demands.

Sport takes promising youngsters on a brief and turbulent journey before depositing them, untrained and unprepared, at the gates of middle age (what Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association, describes as the “cold bath” waiting at the end of a career in the limelight).
Insecurity

For every Gary Speed or Robert Enke (the German international goalkeeper who committed suicide in 2009 after suffering for years with chronic depression), there are literally dozens of athletes struggling silently to come to terms with professional insecurity, low mood or the listlessness and confusion attendant upon sudden retirement.

Many organisations, like our own Gaelic Players Association (GPA) and the PFA, have put protocols and procedures in place to ensure members can avail of advice and counselling, but as Taylor tells TheScore, they’re competing with an entrenched culture of denial:

“[Our courses have] been received very well, actually, and they’re welcome because it’s an issue that isn’t always met with understanding. I can recall when Stan Collymore was going through some difficulties at Aston Villa. They were threatening to sack him. I remember trying to explain to them that he was suffering from depression…

“The difficulty with it is that it’s an issue where you need the person himself to stand up, to come forward and understand that it can be dealt with in confidence.”

As seductive as the prospect of consigning blame for sport’s ideological blind-spots to the dressing room is, it remains an uncomfortable fact that the behaviour of supporters has, in the past, proven every bit as significant as that of colleagues in discouraging athletes from seeking help.

Viewed through the slightly warped lens of sporting fanaticism, mental illness tends to be shorn of its human quality and become something trivial, fodder for either an abusive chant or a snide bon mot (a fact to which a handful of prominent athletes, including the aforementioned Collymore, Sol Campbell, Andy Goram and cricketer Marcus Trescothick can well attest).

While smug marketing campaigns would have you believe that the prejudicial treatment of mental illness, like littering, was the fault of a few bad apples, Kevin Smith believes that, in reality, the evolution of social mores in recent years has been nearly imperceptible:

“In my opinion, it’s hardly changed at all. The stigma surrounding depression is enormous. People still see it as a weakness; they still feel it’s something they can deal with”

In many ways, then, the experience of the professional athlete exaggerates the terms of our already fraught relationship with ideas of well-being and mental health.

Viewed in that light, the death of Gary Speed doesn’t seem to stand as an isolated, personal tragedy, but a stark reflection of the chronically inadequate values on which society at large and professional sport in particular are founded.

Likewise, to insist that suicide is either inexplicable or somehow capable of being reduced to a coherent narrative– a chain of events– is, in many ways, to deny depression its legitimacy as an illness.

SarahBM

read that this morning. good piece.

Warper

quarryman wrote: »

Why do people keep banging on about depression?

There has been no evidence of it and no statement made. In fact, none of his closest friends are acknowledging it as a factor.

With many suicides involving "celebrities" it quickly becomes apparent that the deceased was suffering in some way, Robert Enke, Cobain, Ian Curtis etc.

Not in this case.

It would be much better if people stopped assuming depression was the cause based on zero evidence. It's disrespectful.

RIP Gary. Great to hear the Leeds support tonight.

The evidence is in suicide.

RIP Gary Speed

efb

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PW4tYDEvqs

quarryman

Warper wrote: »

The evidence is in suicide.

RIP Gary Speed

It's evidence of NOTHING.

Just found an article actually making the same point I have.

The exploitation of Gary Speed's death.

The indication that commentators, psychological professionals and mental health charities for which Speed’s death has been nothing short of a "promotional opportunity".

"But then it starts: no sooner has ignorance been confessed than assumption and prejudice are seemingly given free reign. So it is simply assumed that Speed was suffering from some form of depression. It is simply assumed that his life, as a footballer, was lacking in some sort of spiritual depth. And it is simply assumed that there are thousands more people out there just like the official version of Speed now emerging, outwardly happy but inwardly tortured. It has made for an unedifying spectacle. The absence of actual knowledge, the vacuum around which the analyses and commentaries are being frantically and speedily constructed, has sucked in some of the most retrograde of contemporary beliefs.
In the absence of any knowledge, then, in the absence of even the flimsiest of pretexts, the private tragedy of the Speed family has been given a public, awareness-raising function. A bit of old-fashioned respect might be more in order."

People might take note before associating the completely assumed reasons behind Gary Speed's death with anything to do with mental illness, depression or otherwise.

(Apologies for seeming a little bit wound up on this).

flahavaj

quarryman wrote: »

It's evidence of NOTHING.

Just found an article actually making the same point I have.

The exploitation of Gary Speed's death.

The indication that commentators, psychological professionals and mental health charities for which Speed’s death has been nothing short of a "promotional opportunity".

"In the absence of any knowledge, then, in the absence of even the flimsiest of pretexts, the private tragedy of the Speed family has been given a public, awareness-raising function. A bit of old-fashioned respect might be more in order."

People might take note before associating the completely assumed reasons behind Gary Speed's death with anything to do with mental illness, depression or otherwise.

(Apologies for seeming a little bit wound up on this).

Even if Speed wasn't depressed surely the fact that we are talking about mental health and giving males in particular the chance to open up about depression is a good thing full stop? I also fail to see how charities getting a chance to promote themselves could be seen in any way as a bad thing?