ABOUT US

And it is this torch which the Legacy Trust, led by its founding chair and Cyrille’s widow Julia Regis, is determined to keep lit.

Our mentorship programme, proudly supported by football clubs closely associated with Cyrille, is already making a positive and powerful impact across the West Midlands. The work has reached and positively impacted the lives of hundreds of youngsters from around the West Midlands with its educational and football-led programmes providing fun, insight and pathways to a brighter future. 

The first years of the Trust have seen leading figures from football and beyond lending their wisdom, experience and support to our targets. Going forward, we will be seeking the backing to try to roll out the programme in other parts of the country. We know it works. And we know it is what Cyrille would have wanted. 

The Trust is entirely voluntary and received its official charitable status in September, 2019. But we will always need your support to keep this vital work moving forward in Cyrille’s name.  Please continue to explore this site to find out more about our work and how you can help us continue to honour the life of a football legend who truly cared.

Resilience is one of the key elements of “The Cyrille Standard” which provides a cornerstone of the Trust’s messages to its participants. And the charity had to show resilience of its own after launching just before the global Covid outbreak brought the world to a standstill.  

But since then, hundreds of youngsters have graduated through our football-based mentoring programme which strives to deliver inspiration and guidance to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.  

The coaches and mentors work with youngsters who are fighting everyday experiences of gang pressures, home difficulties, financial hardships and varying degrees of criminal activity in their effort to make a brighter future for themselves. 

We are determined to show them they can escape those burdens and carve out a more hopeful and positive future for themselves. 

Eminent football figures – all admirers of Cyrille – including Ian Wright, Alan Shearer, John Barnes, Troy Deeney, Jay Bothroyd and many more, have supported the programme. Our target is to help the social and economic outlook of our graduates, to give them a positive outlook for their future in order they realise their full potential in life.

How do we do it? The Trust has developed a programme we call “Strike A Change”, which sees all of the West Midlands professional football clubs – Aston Villa, Birmingham City, Coventry City, Walsall, West Brom and Wolves – link together through their own community initiatives. 

They help us identify youngsters who need extra guidance and support and through a programme of football-themed activities and inspirational speakers, hosted by each of our participating clubs throughout the regular academic year, we aspire to shine a light on to their futures. 

After its first five years of activities, the Trust produced impact data to show more than 450 young people had benefitted from their participation. But we want to do more and expand the reach of the Strike A Change programme and take its life-affirming messages further afield.