27th November 2021 marks the 10th anniversary of the death of Gary Speed.

The Trust are planning a number of events over the coming months to celebrate the impact he had on both the club and the fans, including our continued partnership with Andy’s Man Club. To kick start this, we have been really honoured to have teamed up with Showoff Design based in Bramley to create a fitting tribute to Gary in the form of a mural.

Company director Ross Horsman is a lifelong Leeds United fan and a great admirer of Gary's, and was keen to partner with the Trust to commission the artwork, which will serve both as a testament to his iconic status amongst Leeds fans as well as a way of raising awareness of male suicide and the great number of support groups that are available for this cause.

Claire Bentley-Smith (aka Poshfruit) the artist commissioned by Showoff, finished the mural in just 12 hours. I think you will all join us in congratulating Claire on a fantastic piece of artwork and she has done us proud. This cause was very close to Claire’s heart as she lost her dad to suicide when she was just 20 years old and she was proud to display the Andy's Man Club logo - a group aimed at getting men to open up about their mental health problems.

We were delighted to officially unveil the artwork on Easter Sunday with Bryn Law and Tony Dorigo – both who were close friends to Gary, and we’re really looking forward to welcoming Gary’s parents who are set to visit next month.

The Trust have been working with Andy’s Man Club for the last two years. They do excellent work to create an environment where men can feel comfortable openly discussing their mental health. We are proud to be supporting such an important and impactful cause and look forward to continuing our partnership across the year, and fingers crossed, we can all get together at an event later in the year.

We would like to thank Ross and the team at Showoff for their vision and support. If there any other local businesses with a prominent wall / gable end that’s pretty visible from a main road, then please get in touch with us – clair.hufton@leedsunitedtrust.com

We are still waiting for planning permission to be approved for the Jack/Trevor/Norman and Peter tribute in Pudsey. But you will be pleased to hear that we are already onto planning our next one in Meanwood – watch this space!

We are asking fans to help us with the costs of the artwork – which helps fund materials and artist time.

Please feel free to donate towards the costs of creating these murals.

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