Lost for words

I must admit the death of Gary Speed knocked me for six this week and until now I've had no compunction to write about the relatively insignificant events going on in League 2.
I knew Gary a bit while working as a sports journalist in Wales, and always found him an approachable, polite and unaffected man - as far removed from the egos that regularly make the front pages of our national newspapers these days as you could possibly be.
In fact, I found myself getting angry when the Football Association of Wales chairman Phil Pritchard, paying tribute to Gary, said that Sepp Blatter and the FIFA 'football family' had sent their condolences. That corrupt and hideous organisation wasn't fit to lace his boots. To my mind Gary Speed was the antidote to all the greed and self-interest that exists in world football.
Perhaps my abiding memory was turning up at one of those dinners a bit late and finding that I was the last to arrive at the table. I thought I could sneak in and take my seat without anyone noticing but Gary, who was sitting opposite, got up and leant across the table with his hand outstretched. "Hi, you must be Nick. Nice to meet you. I'm Gary Speed," he said.
I don't think I would have lasted long in the job if I hadn't recognised the captain of the Wales football team for myself.
Anyway, I couldn't write this entry without paying my own respects to a highly under-rated footballer and, better still, a thoroughly decent human being.
My thoughts go out to his family.

Meanwhile, for Bristol Rovers there has been a brief respite in the continuing holler for the head of our manager Paul Buckle.
It has come because the Gas actually managed to force a 1-1 draw at the home of league leaders Southend on Saturday with, by all accounts, a gritty, backs-to-the-wall performance.
Mind you, any brownie points the beleaguered Buckle may have accrued will be swiftly wiped out if we cannot beat the minnows of Totton in the FA Cup second round on Sunday.
The game is being shown on ITV - our chance in the limelight though, unfortunately, for all the wrong reasons.
We are on a hiding to nothing and the TV boys know it. Win, and everyone will say it was only Totton. Lose, and the outcry will be huge, the manager's neck ever closer to the guillotine.
Could he survive the ensuing clamour? I'm not sure. Directors have a habit of sticking their fingers in the air, testing which way the wind is blowing and acting accordingly.
That's why, for Paul Buckle, this is possibly his most important weekend since joining the club in the summer.