The World’s Most Financially Savvy Football Players

Not all footballers stay minted forever

Keith Gillespie, who has played for Manchester United, Newcastle and Northern Ireland, and was once on £40,000 ($65,000) a week, has been declared bankrupt. He invested in film (due to apparent tax breaks) but now owes around half a million pounds to various creditors including HMRC.

Scottish defender and manager Colin Hendry started drinking and gambling after the death of his wife two years ago and amassed debts of £2.5m ($4m). He was declared bankrupt last year.

Footballers’ homes tend not to fetch their apparent market price

This is largely due to the garish decor. Footballers will buy a property at a premium (from sellers who see them coming with a wedge of ready cash) and then spend millions ‘improving’ them in a style known as ‘footballer chic’. The Rooneys’ house in Cheshire is an example of this style – it includes a Wild West-themed cinema (complete with John Wayne cut-outs), a spray tanning facility and a garden full of mock-Greek sculptures. Ryan Giggs bought a lovely home in Worsley, knocked it down and built a bunker which the locals compared to a supermarket.

Ashley Cole – who kept the property he shared with his ex, Cheryl – now faces making a loss on the house they bought for £3.5m ($5.7m) and decorated for many thousands more.

Phil Neville’s Versace-themed palace sold for £1.5m ($2.5m) less than he wanted for it.

It isn’t just the players who make cash outside the game

Tony Bloom, chairman of Brighton & Hove Albion, is a successful poker player. His total live tournament winnings exceed $2m. His love of gambling began when he lost all his pocket money in a fruit machine when he was eight years old. Preston shareholder Trevor Hemmings made a cool £40m ($65m) selling his Blackpool Tower complex to the council.

Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp owns a Sandbanks mansion rumoured to be worth at least £8m ($13m).

And HH Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the richest man in football by a long shot, has spent $280m investing in Virgin Galactic and is currently chairman of the UAE’s sovereign wealth fund.

This article is courtesy of Money.co.uk . For further reading, please click here to visit their website.