Leeds 2 Millwall 0: Fans say their final farewell to an Elland Road legend

Two goals in four second-half minutes by Robert Snodgrass had settled the game in United’s favour to ensure what was always going to be an emotional day would, at least, have an upbeat ending.

All that was left, it seemed, as the game moved into the final minute of stoppage time was for referee Michael Oliver to bring a halt to proceedings by blowing the final whistle. Just then, however, the home fans launched into one final chant.

“Stand up for Gary Speed,” was the cry, starting first in the Gelderd End and then quickly spreading around the old ground.

The effect was instant, as almost 27,000 men, women and children immediately stood to attention to pay tribute to United’s fallen hero.

It was a simple, yet beautifully touching moment and a fitting way to cap what had been a day when the Elland Road crowd had done Speed and his watching family in the West Stand proud.

Right from 8am when the first few arrivals started to lay scarves and shirts at the Billy Bremner statue through to Simon Grayson gratefully applauding all four sides of Elland Road at the final whistle for the heart-felt manner in which his good pal had been bid such a fond farewell, the Leeds fans were a credit to their club.

Many had been fortunate enough to see Speed play for United. Some had even grown up doing so.

But even those too young to remember the days when the sometimes tousle-haired midfielder brought vibrancy and no little quality to the Leeds shirt clearly realised just what football had lost courtesy of Speed’s apparent suicide eight days ago.

A sense of personal loss had, of course, brought David Batty, Gordon Strachan and Gary McAllister back to Elland Road. As they walked out to applause from the crowd, the three remaining members of the midfield that last brought the League Championship to Elland Road in 1992 wore the look of devastation that only comes with losing someone close.

Grayson, who had signed for Leeds on the same day as Speed when they were both 14-years-old, had the same haunted expression as he joined his United players, all sporting black armbands with ‘11’ and ‘Speed’ on them, for the minute’s applause.

On the happy occasion at the club 28 years earlier, the boys’ elated parents had been present. They were all there again on Saturday but in very different circumstances as Grayson joined his former club-mates and Millwall manager Kenny Jackett in laying a wreath ahead of kick-off.

Speed’s parents, Roger and Carol, were joined in the old directors’ box by his widow Louise and two sons, Ed and Tommy. The pain they must be going through right now can only be imagined, though hopefully a smidgeon of comfort will have come from seeing for themselves just how highly regarded Speed remains at the club where it all began.

That was evident throughout, not least when the Leeds fans chose to mark the passing of a player who made 312 appearances for the club by chanting Speed’s name for 11 minutes from the 11th minute.

“Oh, Gary Gary,” they sang, over and over again, “Gary, Gary, Gary, Gary, Gary Speed.”

With each rendition, the noise levels grew louder until, after the requisite minutes were up and all those who had been twirling scarves above their heads must have felt ready to drop, Elland Road’s biggest league crowd of the season rose as one to applaud before the tribute ended with a guttural shout of ‘Leeds, Leeds, Leeds...’.

The Millwall fans, too, deserve mention for the respect they showed Speed, particularly during the five-minute video tribute shown pre-match on the big screen and the minute’s applause that followed.

Leeds and Millwall may usually go together like petrol and a naked flame but, on this occasion, there was genuine recognition from the 200 or so away fans of their rivals’ loss. It is to be hoped that extends to the return fixture in south London on March 24.

Not that there was not some hostility in the air, most noticeably when the coaches carrying the Lions fans arrived in the car park that stands on the old Fullerton Park training pitch where Speed honed his skills as a youngster.

As the police created a small sliver of no-man’s land to ferry the Londoners from the car park to the away turnstiles, a welcoming committee gathered either side to shout insults. Even then, though, it seemed more pantomime villainy than any real sense of menace.

Maybe the realisation had sunk in that a day like Saturday was not a time for settling old scores, even when the rivalry is as bitter as this one has become down the years.

Certainly, for long periods of the first half, the football was something of a sideshow to the grieving process. That did change, however, after the break when Leeds, despite losing Jonny Howson and Michael Brown to injury, started to take control.

Not for the first time this season, Snodgrass proved to be the catalyst for United gaining the ascendancy with his switch to the left flank in the wake of the injuries to his two fellow midfielders proving to be the turning point.

The first warning for Millwall came six minutes after the restart when the Scottish international sent a dipping shot just wide of the post.

It was not one they heeded as, just after the hour, a clumsy challenge by Paul Robinson saw Adam Clayton upended 25 yards from goal. Snodgrass, sensing the opportunity he craved had arrived, duly curled the resulting free-kick round the wall and into the top corner of the net.

Four minutes later, Snodgrass made it 2-0 with a Speed-esque style finish as the Scot ghosted in off the left to nip in front of his marker, Jack Smith, and fling himself at a Lloyd Sam cross to beat Steve Mildenhall from six yards out.

The game was over, the only frustration for Leeds being that they couldn’t add a third as Sam, Luciano Becchio and Andy Keogh all wasted gilt-edged opportunities during a one-sided final quarter. With the points safe, the home fans spent the final few minutes running through several numbers in their back catalogue as Dominic Matteo, Lucas Radebe, David Batty and even Jermaine Beckford were given a name-check.

The day, though, was all about one man and one man only. How fitting, therefore, that as the United fans rose to their feet to chant Gary Speed’s name for the umpteenth time a rainbow should suddenly appear in the sky above Elland Road. Maybe someone up there really was looking down approvingly on Leeds United.

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Leeds: McCarthy, Connolly, Lees, Kisnorbo, Pugh, Snodgrass, Howson (Sam 36), Brown (Keogh 40), Clayton, White, Becchio. Unused substitutes: Maik Taylor, Nunez, Bromby.

Millwall: Mildenhall, Smith, Robinson, Lowry (Ward 85), Baker, Feeney (Henry 73), Abdou, Trotter, Barron (Bouazza 68), Simpson, Henderson. Unused substitutes: Allsop,Marquis.

Referee: M Oliver (Northumberland).