Gary Bailey

Gary Bailey is a well-known South African television persona, known for presenting football on Mnet's SuperSport, who has played top soccer around the world in his heyday.

Gary, who holds an MBA from Henley in Oxford, as well as a BSc in Physics in Manchester, was born in England and grew up in Johannesburg and Cape Town, and played for Wits (where he was studying on a scholarship) for 2 years. He then joined Manchester United in 1977 and less than a year later became their number one goalkeeper, playing 373 competitive matches, including 2 European semi-finals and winning 2 FA cup medals.

He played for England from 1978 to 1986 and was part of the 1986 world cup squad that made the quarter finals in Mexico. During the '86 world cup, Gary seriously injured his knee and retired from top class football at the comparatively young age of 28. He returned to South Africa to play for Kaizer Chiefs for 2 years during which time the team won 5 trophies.

After final retirement, Gary turned his attention to the media and became the anchor soccer presenter at Supersport, covering the 1990, '94, '98 and 2002 World Cups. He has been one of Southern Africa's top speakers for more than a decade.  A Highlight for Gary was being one of the ambassadors for South Africa's soccer world cup bid, travelling around Asia and Europe with Danny Jordaan, and being present at the final announcement in Zurich.

Gary the Speaker

Gary has been a top class speaker for over 20 years, and was inducted into the Speakers Hall of Fame in 2010.  He has a fun yet business like style that is inspirational yet relaxing. With his MBA knowledge, combined with a career playing for the biggest football club in the world, Gary is well positioned to talk on Performing under Pressure, Leadership, Teamwork and also the Soccer World Cup, having been an ambassador for South Africa's 2010 World Cup and presenting over 500 talks in the build up to the event.

Gary's 4 popular topics are:

• Sales performance under Pressure - Gary's most popular talk which looks at how to cope with the current pressures to sell and how to remain motivated - something Gary knows about after conceeding the goal which lost Man Utd the FA cup in 1979 - now THAT is pressure! 
• LEAD - a talk about World Class Leadership based on Gary's former manager Sir Alex Ferguson
• TEAM - a talk focusing on how to build great teams, and again Sir Alex of Man Utd is used as an example along with Barcelona - 2 great teams that are sustainable...
• The 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, a talk in which Gary uses his vast knowledge of the 2010 world cup, it's successes and surprises, to help companies maximise their opportunities in 2014.