Dave Edwards leads tributes to Gary Speed

Wolves midfielder Dave Edwards today paid tribute to Wales manager Gary Speed, whose death yesterday at the age of 42 left him "absolutely stunned".

The former Leeds, Everton, Newcastle and Bolton midfielder was found dead at his Cheshire home yesterday morning after tragically taking his own life.

Edwards is one of three Wales internationals at Wolves regularly selected by Speed with keeper Wayne Hennessey and striker Sam Vokes and he revealed his disbelief at seeing the news as it broke.

"It was just such a major shock and I was absolutely stunned to hear the news," said the midfielder.

"My brother alerted me to it and when I saw it all on the TV I just couldn't believe it.

"From the outside it just looked like he had everything going for him.

"He'd been a really talented player and had a great career and was already showing he was becoming a very talented manager as well. He was such a level-headed and confident bloke that I was just stunned to hear what had happened."

Speed leaves a wife Louise, and sons, Tommy and Ed, and Edwards said his feelings were with the family.

"He had a wife and two children and it's difficult to imagine what they're going through – it's such terrible news," he said.

"I've spoken to Sam Vokes and Wayne and we've all been struggling to get our heads around it all.

"From listening to all the tributes from people who were a lot closer to him than I was, they too felt he had everything going for him and are baffled. It's a massive loss to everyone and he will be sadly missed."

Edwards revealed that as someone who played in the same position as Speed, who became Wales' record cap holder for an outfield player, he looked up to him.

"He was one of my heroes as a player," said the 25-year-old. "I was so pleased when I got the chance to work with him when he became Wales manager."

And the Wolves man was convinced Speed would have led Wales to their first World Cup finals since 1958, saying: "He'd made such an impression with Wales – I'm sure he would have got us there."