Dan Walker has revealed Gary Speed’s final words to him, after he interviewed the Welsh footballer and manager on Football Focus the day before he died.

The Channel 5 News presenter, 47, was close friends with Gary, who tragically took his own life in November 2011 at the age of 42.

Now, Dan is vowing to fight for better mental health services for children as part of his charity Bright Young Dreams, which he has launched with Jessica Ennis-Hill and Jon Richardson.

Speaking to The Mirror on Thursday, Dan reflected on being one of the last people to speak to Gary, before being left ‘poleaxed’ when he heard the heartbreaking news.  

He recalled: ‘We left on great terms, and Gary’s last words were: ‘I’ll ring you Monday and we’ll organize a game of golf.’

‘I’ve thought about that day a gazillion times about, you know, should I have seen something? Could I have had a conversation with him?’

In February, Dan revealed that he ‘used to cry in the toilets’ while presenting BBC Breakfast during his appearance on This Morning 

The Channel 5 News presenter, 47, was close friends with Gary, who tragically took his own life in November 2011 at the age of 42 (pictured in 2012)

Speaking about his charity, he added: ‘The darker times including Gary have informed a lot of conversations that I’ve been having around the charity. You can’t be unchanged by that. I think maybe, hopefully,it’s tuned me to be a better listener.’ 

Dan also noted that Gary’s two sons, who were just 14 and 13 at the time of his death, are now in ‘a decent place’ and ‘trying to move on with their lives’.

In a long and storied career in professional football, Speed turned out for some of England’s biggest clubs including Leeds, Everton, Newcastle and Bolton before going on to take the ultimate honour of managing his country, Wales.

Gary’s widow Louise gave her first interview since his death in 2021 – 10 years since his pᴀssing.

‘I know this weekend is significant for people because it’s the 10th anniversary,’ Louise told Sportsmail.

‘But it’s not for me. It’s no different to the previous nine years. I always remember Gary on his birthday in September. That’s when I have a drink to him. That’s my day of thought and celebration of Gary.’

‘I was 41 when it happened and it felt so young to have that label as a widow,’ she said.

‘It felt very uncomfortable. People were so kind but sometimes it just took one look.

‘I was almost caught in a barbed wire situation where that was all I felt. I was in this pigeon hole of pity and sympathy.

Dan has since reflected on being one of the last people to speak to Gary, before being left ‘poleaxed’ when he heard the heartbreaking news

On the 10th anniversary of Gary’s shocking death in 2021, widow Louise (pictured) opened up in her first interview 

‘It was like being in the worst nightmare possible. There were no answers and no Gary walking through the door again. Nothing was ever going to be right again.

‘I was trudging through life, just functioning. If I could have been anybody else apart from me, for a long time, I would have happily taken it.

‘But we are 10 years on now. It’s a cliche but time is a healer even if it takes years. I have learned that life can be good again, can be great again.

‘I feel different in myself. I still feel many things but not right in front of my face. I know it. I am Gary’s widow and I can say it now. I think of him every single day.

‘It could just be a flashback or I will see something and wonder how he would react to it. Most often now it’s nice thoughts. I have myself back and the boys have all of their mum back. Back then I felt they had lost their dad and only had half a mum.

‘It was not fair on them above all. They had lost such a chunk of me as well. But it has come back now. They have me back.’ 

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