Former England international defender Wes Brown won the Champions League in 1999 and 2008 for Manchester United but later declared bankruptcy after losing millions.
Former Manchester United defender Wes Brown has finally opened up on his struggles after declaring bankruptcy last year (April 2023).
Wesley Michael Brown, age 44, has made 362 Premier League appearances during a career that saw him play for Manchester United and Sunderland, among others. He was part of both of United's Champions League winning squads under Sir Alex Ferguson, starting the final against Chelsea in 2008. He earned £50,000-a-week as a player at some point, but lost millions after his playing career ended.
He was reported to have lost millions in bad property deals, overpaying on a farm, and his company collapsing. The versatile defender also split from his wife Leanne, a reality TV star, in 2022.
In an interview with The Ben Heath Podcast, Brown revealed the issues which he said "came to a head" in 2023. In speaking out, he said other players have told him they're in similar situations today.
"It's a long story and I won't go into the detail, but it's stuff that happened a long time ago with certain investments and getting into stuff that as a young kid, a lot of people go into, [but] don't really understand what a lot of people are doing.
Then it came to a head last year, and that's how it went. Like I said, it's happened and I'm just getting on with it but it's one of those things where you hope people, especially this generation, don't get involved in.
Something a lot of especially footballers went into, a lot of people have been able to get themselves out of it or they've been sorting it out or whatever, but I just couldn't. There's not much I could do."
Brown also admitted he did not have the ‘right people' to guide him during his younger years.
"I've had a lot of players that have said 'I'm in the same thing'. I won't say names... and it doesn't necessarily mean that the same outcome will happen to them.
But it's stuff like when you're kids you don't really understand it anyway, you just assume a lot of people are doing it and it's fine. That's not your life, you're just playing football.
I think the main thing is when you are making a lot of money, you need the right people, don't you? And I would say that's one of the things I didn't have.
It was a little bit different. It wasn't lots of people you go and speak to, just you maybe meet people and do this, do that. I wasn't interested in any of that. You said yes and got on with it."
Even though he earned huge sums of money during his career, Brown was actually not one of the highest earners at Old Trafford. Some of Brown's team-mates earned six times as much as him. Speculations say he may have spent a lot in an attempt to keep up with his fellow United stars on bigger salaries, but Brown denies that he over-spent on expensive items.
Despite his financial woes, he insisted he is determined to remain positive and come through the other side.
"I think the main thing going forward for me is I'm very lucky to still be doing what I'm doing and getting on with it. It's not a nice thing, but I'm not the sort of person to cry about it or moan about it."
Earlier this year, former Everton and Ireland star Gareth Farrelly told Mirror Football about the scale of football's bankruptcy crisis. Now working as a lawyer, the 48-year-old indicated generous wages do not provide protection against the problems afflicting a number of former players.
Farrelly said:
"There are pressures, there are insecurities. Players want to be seen as highly-valued and one way of demonstrating that is through what they are purchasing.
Nice clothes, cars, a nice watch, the latest headphones. There are images to conform to so players lower down and young players look at what the top players are wearing to be accepted within that group. That becomes a habit and it's hard to break it. It's difficult to maintain the lifestyle."
You've got a house, car, lifestyle commensurate with your football contract. You make one or two bad investments and you're done. You will never be able to carry the losses, based on initial net investments. This emphasizes the importance of having good people around you."
Source: https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/wes-brown-bankruptcy-manchester-united-32553073
