Dafydd Pritchard
BBC Sport Wales
When you make your way to Cardiff City Stadium from the direction of the city centre, you are met with a mural of Gary Speed.
An image of the late Wales captain and manager adorns the side of a building overlooking a busy Canton crossroads; a black and white portrait on a bold red backdrop, accompanied by the words ‘Only one Gary Speed’, as sung by the country’s supporters at every home game.
Speed may only have managed Wales for 11 months but he left a profound legacy, the man many believe to have laid the foundation for the team’s rise from international football’s lowest reaches to the sparkling highs of its greatest generation.
Mention Speed’s name to any of his former team-mates, colleagues or players he coached and you will likely see them visibly moved, touched by their memories of a man they loved, who took his own life in 2011.
Craig Bellamy is one. Having played with and under Speed for Wales and shared a dressing room with him at club level, Bellamy has a deeper understanding than most about what made him special.
Now, as Wales head coach, Bellamy helps carry Speed’s memory as well as the hopes of a nation.
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