The player returned from holiday to find the Magpies in talks with Sam Allardyce, and Speed said at the time he would only go if Newcastle didn't want him.
I think that was answered when he got the call to go to the Reebok Stadium to sign on the dotted line.
Scott Parker came face-to-face with Speed on Sunday, and the Toon skipper hoped to put the horror of Croatia behind him with a good display. But it didn't work out that way. He simply left one "crisis" to join up with another.
Parker: "I'd like to think I'd play that long in the Premiership, but I can't see it! I have watched Gary a couple of times this year and he is still so, so fit.
"I have played against him many a time. He is strong and physical and can get around as well. To think how quick the game is getting now, it shows he has led his life the right way and been a true professional. He is a credit to himself.
"When he left here, I think it was a big loss."
