Neil Bailey is an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 former footballer. He played as a midfielder

Midfielder

A midfielder is an association football position. Some midfielders play a more defensive role, while others blur the boundaries between midfielders and forwards. The number of midfielders a team uses during a match may vary, depending on the team's formation and each individual player's role...

.

He began his career at Newport County

Newport County A.F.C.

Newport County Association Football Club are a professional football club based in the city of Newport, south Wales, who currently play in the Conference National, the highest level of the National League System and fifth highest of the overall English football league system...

 in the early 1980s, during the most successful period in the club's history. Bailey was part of the team that won promotion and the Welsh Cup

Welsh Cup

The Welsh Cup is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams from Wales.The Football Association of Wales is the organising body of this competition, which has been run every year since its inception in 1877-78...

 and, in the subsequent season, reached the quarter-finals of the 1980–81 European Cup Winners' Cup. Bailey made 134 appearances for Newport, scoring seven goals.

He joined his hometown club, Wigan Athletic

Wigan Athletic F.C.

Wigan Athletic Football Club is an English Premier League Association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, having been promoted from the Championship in 2005. Wigan's current spell in the Premier League is the only top flight run in the club's history.They have played at the DW...

, in 1983. He spent three years at Springfield Park

Springfield Park (Wigan)

Springfield Park was a multi-purpose stadium in Wigan, England. It was the home ground of Wigan Athletic F.C. until the club moved to the new JJB Stadium after the 1999 season. At its largest, the stadium held 40,000...

, making 41 league appearances and scoring two goals.

In 1986, Bailey joined Stockport County

Stockport County F.C.

Stockport County Football Club is an English football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester. The club formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, shortly afterwards merging with Heaton Norris F.C., and adopted the current name on 24 May 1890 on the creation of the County Borough of Stockport...

 and went on to make a half-century of appearances for the Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...

 club. During his time at Edgeley Park

Edgeley Park

Edgeley Park is an association football and rugby union stadium in Stockport, England. The stadium was initially built for the rugby league club Stockport in 1901, but by 1902, the rugby club was defunct and in the same year, Stockport County Football Club, who were looking for a bigger ground,...

, he was loaned out to his first club, Newport County.

Bailey retired from playing in 1988, but stayed on at Stockport County as a coach.

In 1992, Bailey joined Billy Ayre

Billy Ayre

William "Billy" Ayre was an English footballer who played for three different clubs in a sixteen-year professional career, making over three hundred League appearances in the process. After retiring from the playing side of the game, he became a manager, and took the helm at five different clubs...

's Blackpool

Blackpool F.C.

Blackpool Football Club are an English football club founded in 1887 from the Lancashire seaside town of Blackpool. They are competing in the 2011–12 season of the The Championship, the second tier of professional football in England, having been relegated from the Premier League at the end of the...

, also as a coach, but occasionally took to the field as an emergency fill-in when injuries dictated.

Bailey was later a youth team coach at Manchester United

Manchester United F.C.

Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...

 and then a coach for the Professional Footballers' Association

Professional Footballers' Association

The Professional Footballers' Association is the trade union for professional footballers in England and Wales. The world's oldest professional sport trade union, it has 4,000 members....

 between 2002 and 2007. In January 2007, Bailey became first team coach at Sunderland

Sunderland A.F.C.

Sunderland Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear who currently play in the Premier League...

, where he is now assistant manager.