I didn't know Gary Speed the man – it was only Gary Speed the professional footballer and manager who was familiar to me. Growing up I first encountered Speed on that Leeds Utd side of the 1991/92 season, with a midfield that also included Strachan, Batty and McAllister. They would go down in history as the last side to win the old First Division Championship, before Alex Ferguson and his Red Devils ruled the roost.

It was the last season pre Sky Sports' purchase of top flight English football. My consumption of the action was mainly via BBC Radio, the dulcet tones of Alan Green and Mike Ingham bringing matches to life, allowing one's imagination to run free thanks to the vivid descriptions taking place.
That's something that has been lost in today's world of wall-to-wall TV coverage of sport. Armchair fans can now luxuriate in an almost slumber-like existence, the images on the screen washing over them as they lie there, eyes glazed over.

Speed was a swashbuckling player on that Leeds side, popping up at the most opportune times to score vital goals. His career continued on at Everton, Newcastle Utd, Bolton Wanderers and Sheffield Utd. I would be lying if I said I followed Speed's career closely all the way through, but he was always there in the background, a true pro as that old adage goes. Watching highlights on a Saturday night he would emerge regularly, working from box to box, defending and attacking as the game dictated.

The first time I saw Speed in person was last February at Lansdowne Road, when he managed Wales for the first time. It was a fairly nondescript encounter in the Celtic Nations Cup (a competition we may never hear from again). Speed, looking dapper as usual, watched from the sidelines as his new charges were beaten 3-0. I saw him again in May, when the Welsh played Scotland back in Dublin. His side seemed to have improved somewhat since February, even though they lost the encounter.

And that's it – I never thought about Gary Speed again until I switched on to watch coverage of Liverpool and Manchester City last Sunday. The news of his death shocked me. My initial reaction was that it had been a car accident – when it emerged that the man may have taken his own life the story took on even greater depths of sadness.

Speed, as we have now learned, appeared on BBC's Football Focus just hours before his death. Nobody who met him on set, or saw him on television, suspected that there was anything remiss. Yet the man may have already decided, before appearing on national television, to end his own life that night. What demons were at play in his head can only be imagined.

In the aftermath of Speed's death the media has been focusing on the issue of depression. That is one positive that may come out of this sorry saga, for mental health is an issue that still has a stigma attached to it.

Gary Speed, a man who appeared to have it all, believed that he was better off out of this life. It would appear that nobody had any idea what he was going through. We only saw the public Gary Speed on television last Saturday, the private one was in a far darker place.

Speed was portraying an image for public consumption – the camera lied as it showed us a man seemingly happy with his lot, discussing the game that he loved.

In this age of 24/7 media coverage, of non-stop virtual interaction such as Facebook and Twitter, ironically we are more than ever isolated from one another. Technology enables a greater quantity of communication, but the authenticity of that communication is very much in doubt. Nobody really knows what is going on inside a person's head – for all the updates on Facebook, the tweets on Twitter, the emails or texts sent, there is still nothing that matches face-to-face human interaction. Advances in communication have served to create a pseudo community that in many cases consists only of the inane nonsensical ramblings of incoherent imbeciles. Face-to-face contact is being replaced by Facebook updates, tweets, texts or internet chat rooms. People are hiding behind a screen, creating a version of themselves that is far removed from the truth.

Somewhere along the lines social decorum has also become blurred. Anonymity has provided individuals with a licence to bypass normal social niceties. I watched on You Tube the scenes before the Swansea City and Aston Villa match that took place just hours after the announcement of the death of Gary Speed. Unbelievably there were abusive comments about Speed posted beneath the video. It was almost impossible to fathom how any human being could countenance making such remarks under the circumstances.

Ironically, in this age of instant communication, where apparently we have better access to each other, we are living in an increasingly isolated world. Sure, you may be able to speak to thousands on Twitter, or pour forth on internet chat rooms, but in doing so, are you really connecting with anyone?

In the week that a young man such as Gary Speed died in such tragic circumstances, it is perhaps timely to remind people that it's good to talk – not just tweet, text or type.