We sadly announce that Trevor Bailey that Former New Salamis and KOPA League player Trevor Bailey passed away today Wednesday 10th April 2024 in Paphos Cyprus at the age of 66.
Trevor Bailey was an amazing character always loud and smiling and thrived in everybody’s company.
He grew up in Walthamstow. Fortunately, Trevor had a passion – and the talent – for football, and poured his heart and soul into the game. “As a kid, he played for the Southend and the Queens Park Rangers youth teams. He later played for New Salamis in the KOPA League from there he went to Cyprus in the early 80s to play for Evagoras and APOP. He knew absolutely nothing about Cyprus, not even where it was. And, as one of the very first black professional players on the island, he didn’t know how he would be treated.
“But Trevor said I needn’t have worried,” telling a Cypriot publication . “My team-mates took me under their wing, and the people of the island were fantastic – they made me feel so welcome. I was respected, and appreciated, and – unlike in England – I felt absolutely no racism towards me: I didn’t experience any racial issues at all here; they liked me for me. Back then, there wasn’t much English spoken on the island, so I had to learn Greek. And there were only about six English programmes on TV all week. But it didn’t matter – team-mates and supporters were always looking out for me, inviting me to their homes to eat, and treating me as one of their own. It gave me the chance to step outside what I’d been used to growing up, and look at how I could help other kids do the same.”
Returning to the UK five years later, Trevor took over his former club: Interwood Football Club where he trained under the late, great Terry Gibson. “he decided to take it over with his brother, Garry Bailey, who was then scouting for Tottenham, and start an Academy too,” he revealed at the time . “It was a chance for me to give something back to the community,” he adds. “Sport, the way we teach it at the Academy, provides the all-important family values which can set young kids on the right path in life.”
Feature Trevor2Trevor kicked off Interwood Academy with one under-nine team. Within a couple of years, every single one of the kids was picked up by a professional club. “It was such an amazing feeling!” he said then. “You become more than a coach: you become a mentor and, for some of the kids, the dad that’s not around. And that pushes you to create more opportunities for these kids; to give them a focus in life away from the gangs and the guns, to teach them to channel their energy in the right way he said I even had the privilege of coaching Harry Kane..”
Building on their early successes, Trevor and his brother Danny took both the Club and the Academy to new heights. It wasn’t uncommon for Les and Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Trevor Sinclair to drop into the Academy’s training sessions. “They’d talk positively about how to get the best out of life,” Trevor would say. “I think the all-important message for these kids is that there’s another way of life where your team-mates are going to respect you for your abilities and your dedication, regardless of your colour.
Trevor’s own daughter, Jade Bailey, was also one of the Academy’s success stories, playing at Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool Ladies, captaining the England under-18s, and playing with the England under-23 team and playing for the Jamaica National team. Jade was also London Olympics torch bearer and was watched by an estimated global audience of one billion as she stood on the prow of the motorboat driven by David Beckham and held the Olympic torch that was ferried to Steve Redgrave during the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
Trevor went back to Cyprus, running the Trevor Bailey Football Academy in Paphos. “he married there in 2014, and bought a house in Paphos in 2019. The island was their home,
A lovely man so sad to hear of the sad news.
RIP Legend the world is a sadder pace with you no longer with us.
Condolences and love to all family and friends.
Was lovely to know you and see your smiling face.
Joe Bloomberg
From all of us at Chapel End Juniors in Walthamstow where he coached and taught sport, Trevor you will be sadly missed. Sending our condolences to family and Jade x
This is an absolute amazing testament to a wonderful life journey. Condolences to the family & friends. as Trevor has gone too soon! From a Tom Hood school colleague, Gary Dixon