AN INQUEST has ruled that there is not enough evidence to say that Gary Speed committed suicide.
Speed, who played for Everton FC, Sheffield United, Newcastle, Leeds and Bolton - and also managed Wales - was found hanged at his Cheshire home on November 27 last year by his wife Louise.
In a narrative verdict, Cheshire coroner Nicholas Rheinberg gave the cause of Speed's death as hanging but said “the evidence does not sufficiently determine whether this was intentional or accidental”.
The inquest at Warrington Coroner’s Court heard Mrs Speed say she had had a text conversation with Speed, 42, just days before he died.
The inquest heard he had talked in terms of taking his life but that he “dismissed it”, saying that he was “excited” about the future with his wife and two sons.
Mrs Speed said the text referred to their “ups and downs” but went on about “how important the boys were” and about “moving forward”.
The inquest heard that the couple “had words” on the night before he was found dead after they had been to a dinner party at a friend’s house.
“We walked in the house and we had an exchange of words about something and nothing,” Mrs Speed said.
But Mr Rheinberg said today, in a narrative verdict, that the football manager may have “nodded off” while sitting with a rope around his neck on the stairs in his garage.
