Former Leeds United skipper Gordon Strachan has opened up on his relationship with Gary Speed at Elland Road, saying the late Welshman was 'like a wee son' to him.
Strachan and Speed were teammates for six years at Elland Road, with the pair being key parts of the 1992 title-winning midfield, which remains the last time Leeds won a trophy.
The Scot joined Leeds from Manchester United in 1989, during which time Speed was breaking into the first team, playing predominantly as an exciting left-winger.
While Speed, who tragically died in November 2011, would establish himself as an Elland Road great, Strachan says it was a case of determination over natural talent that made him hit the heights he did.
"When I first knew him at Leeds he was 17 and ordinary," Strachan told the Daily Mail.
"Tidy, a good leap but nothing to make him a star. Then he started training harder and learning.
"He made himself a top player. There are geniuses and there are those who work to make themselves from ordinary to very good. There aren't many who can."
Strachan was 32 when he arrived in West Yorkshire and was the catalyst for Leeds' rise from Division Two strugglers to champions of England under Howard Wilkinson as he enjoyed perhaps the best spell of his career.
And during this time, he was able to use his experience to help Speed navigate the early years of his professional career.
I sat beside him for five or six years and he became like a wee son to me. [My wife] Lesley loved him too."
Strachan has previously described his spell at Leeds as his greatest achievement in football, but says Wilkinson, who remains the last English manager to win the title, never got the credit he deserved.
"As for Howard, he has never been classed with the legends and he should be," Strachan continued. "To go from down in Division Two to the league title is like Cloughie (Brian Clough) at Nottingham Forest. His problem was that he wasn't media friendly."
