On Sunday, November 27, 2011, Neil Taylor and his Swansea City teammates experienced what seemed like any other Premier League match day.
Fans flocked to Liberty Stadium on a beautiful, fresh afternoon in anticipation of Aston Villa’s arrival in the first televised match of the day at 13:30.
Kickoff was in a little over an hour, so Taylor was concentrated. The Wales international was prepared after completing his pre-match rituals and preparations.
The noise of a packed house filled the tunnel as Swansea captain Ashley Williams called a team meeting in the changing room before sending his men out onto the field to warm up.
Then Brendan Rodgers, the manager, approached his team, as he did before every game. Just just once,
“Brendan just came and pulled us out of the changing room to a back room,” Taylor recalled.
“Listen, we believe Gary Speed has passed away,” he stated.
It’s difficult to explain shock episodes, but I think we just kind of didn’t accept it or assumed it would be just another ridiculous rumor or whatever. ‘How do you mean?’ is your initial query.
“We later learned that it might have been a suicide. Subsequently, it was reported that Shay Given, who was in the Aston Villa changing room across from them, had verified it. He had been a close friend of his from Newcastle. He had attested to it.”