Gary Speed: Mural tribute to former Wales manager

A giant mural has been painted to remember former Wales manager Gary Speed.

Speed had been in charge of the national team for 11 months when he was found dead at his home in November 2011 but is widely credited for helping to kick-start the rise of Welsh football. 

Wales had risen from an all-time world-ranking low of 117th to 45th under his leadership.

They have since made it two Euros and now this year's World Cup in Qatar.

The finishing touches by artist Bradley Rmer have been made to the mural which is close to the Cardiff City Stadium, where Wales play their home games.

It has been commissioned by a group named Unify in collaboration with the Football Association of Wales (FAW), who wanted his legacy to live on.

"What we wanted to do was maintain and preserve Gary Speed's legacy," said organiser Yusuf Ismail, from Unify.

"He had a glittering career and his impact on Welsh football is second-to-none.

"This idea was formed probably a year ago when we were looking for different locations. We were keeping one eye on the qualification for the World Cup and everything worked out incredibly well.

"We attend a lot of games at Cardiff City Stadium so we know how iconic this location is - so we just thought it would be a fitting place to create a mural in his memory."

He said the FAW were "fully supportive and understood how impactful this would be for Wales and for Welsh football".

He added: "What Welsh football has done is capture Welsh culture in a poignant way… you know with the bucket hats, with the songs, with the fashion.

"There's a real love for Welsh culture through football and it's almost as if synonymous with Welsh culture presently."

Wales fan Sherif Khalifa welcomed the mural.

"I'm a north-Walian so allegiances with Gary Speed and everything that happened is very sad," he said.

"We've built a very nice legacy in Welsh football since then and it's good to remember.

"It's definitely powerful. This is where I walked to the stadium with my son to see Wales play Belgium last week and this is where thousands of other fans will do the same and see Gary and remember him.

"It's easy to get swept up in the hype of the win over the past two weeks, but it's people like Gary who set the foundation stones in place to allow us to build to this position."