First time I've heard of this player.
Just had a quick read here and there. I'd say the same as I did in the McTominay choosing Scotland thread. If Bailey were to play for England assuming he even can I'd hope it was because he felt the most affinity with England of the countries he was eligible for. On the face of it I'd have way more doubts that this would be true of Bailey than McTominay choosing Scotland but I'll never know.
Why would it be different?
By all accounts he doesn't have a British grandparent though so its moot point. His agent and agent's sister released some article and the only claim they mentioned was something about a great grandfather fighting in some war on the British side. If he was actually eligible then they would have said so instead of the totally irrelevant story of his great grandfather. Adopted great grandfather as well.
The article I just read had his adoptive dad saying his parents were English (the player's grandparents). You can only go back as far as grandparents as far as I know, so if it was gread grandparents as you say then I don't think he'd be eligible anyway.
Loads of interesting angles to this story for me. First the adoption thing. I'd assume that it would count the same as birth parents when it comes to eligibility if ihis grandparents were English but am not 100% sure. Thinking about it, there'll be people who were adopted who simply don't know who their birth parents or grandparents are so in those cases at least you'd have to go with the adopting family. I'm sure there was an Ireland player who had circumstances like those. I want to say it was either Tony Cascarino or Andy Townsend but I'm not sure, think I they read they only knew they'd been adopted after being capped.
Relating this into John Barnes and Raheem Sterling, I don't know how they were eligible for England. Anyone know their backgrounds? Always wondered if might have something to do with Jamaica not being fully independent at the time their parents or grandparents were born and that it might have made their family be seen as British and therefore English retrospectively. Anyone know the details on that, or did they simply have at least one English parent or grandparent?
I have a strong feeling that Bailey is not eligible for England and that this is just more nonsense from Bailey's agent/adoptive father Craig Butler who has had a long running feud with the Jamaica Football Federation.
Well on the little bit of reading I've done his dad does seem like a bit of a character. Dumped a 15 year-old Leon in Belgium on his own for 4 months at one point according to wikipedia.