A massive mural of former Wales manager Gary Speed is being painted on the side of a building near the Cardiff City Stadium. Just days after Wales beat Ukraine to make it to the World Cup Finals later this year, the mural of the manager who is often credited with starting off the team on the road to Qatar is taking shape.
The world of football and beyond was stunned by the death of the 42-year-old Wales boss at his Cheshire home on November 27, 2011. You can read more about the inexplicable tragedy ten years on here.
The mural is part of a project by a group of Cardiff creatives called Unify who aim to encourage more people to connect with their city and football. They were the team behind the My City My Shirt campaign, and Yusuf Ismail said the Gary Speed mural was something they had been talking about for some time.
"We felt there was not really a lasting tribute to the manager who was instrumental in what we are seeing with the Wales football team today," he said. "We had hoped to have it ready before the Ukraine game but it is quite a complex undertaking, so it took a bit longer. But he hopes it will be a lasting legacy for his family and his fans in his memory and also as a tribute to the Welsh team."
The mural, which will be on the junction of Atlas Road and Leckwith Road, is close to the stadium that saw Wales qualify when they beat Ukraine 1-0. Yusuf said: "We wanted it to be close to the stadium so fans will walk past it on their way to games and remember."
Residents reacted angrily earlier this year after a mural, dubbed Cardiff's 'Mona Lisa,' was painted over to make way for a McDonald's advert in Cardiff Bay. But the mural was re-painted in a new location on James Street, just across the road from the original, with the help of Unify Creative and McDonald's.
The My City, My Shirt mural, designed to celebrate the diversity of the capital, features mother-of-two Maimuna Yoncana, originally from Guinea-Bissau, wearing a Cardiff City shirt and cradling her baby bump. The portrait, painted in April 2021, was part of a project of the same name organised by Cardiff creatives Yusuf Ismail and Shawqi Hasson, which aims to encourage more people of colour to connect with their city and football club.
