| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Gary Richard Bailey | ||
| Date of birth | 9 August 1958 | ||
| Place of birth | Ipswich, England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1975 | Cape Town City | 0 | (0) |
| 1976–1978 | Wits University | ||
| 1978–1987 | Manchester United | 294 | (0) |
| 1988–1990 | Kaizer Chiefs | ||
| National team | |||
| 1979–1984 | England U21 | 14 | (0) |
| 1985 | England | 2 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Gary Richard Bailey (born 9 August 1958 in Ipswich) is a former footballer who made nearly 300 appearances in the Football League playing as a goalkeeper for Manchester United. He was capped twice for England.[1][2]
He is the son of former Ipswich Town goalkeeper Roy Bailey.[3]
He grew up in South Africa and started his career with Wits University in Johannesburg. In the late 1970s, Bailey paid his own fare to Manchester for a trial with Manchester United.
He established himself as United goalkeeper in the late 1970s following the retirement of Alex Stepney, but in one of his first crucial games he missed a cross in the 1979 FA Cup final, allowing Alan Sunderland to score the winning goal for Arsenal with just seconds remaining. Despite this, he was considered to be one of the best goalkeepers in England in the early- to mid-1980s.
He represented the national team twice at senior level, but was unable to establish himself in the first eleven due to the form of the more-experienced Peter Shilton and Ray Clemence. He was first capped against the Republic of Ireland on 26 March 1985, with his other international appearance coming on 9 June that year against Mexico.[4]
United were one of the top sides in England while Bailey played for them, and won FA Cup medals with them in 1983 and 1985.
However, he developed a serious knee injury during training at the 1986 FIFA World Cup[5] and missed most of the 1986–87 season, after which he retired and returned to South Africa where he subsequently resumed his career with Kaizer Chiefs, before retiring in 1990.[6] He was a well-known radio presenter on Talk Radio 702. Gary is now a football presenter for Supersport Premier League coverage in South Africa. He was an ambassador in South Africa's successful bid to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup and does motivational speaking centred around increasing the benefits of that event.
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