Its Dean Windass, hes just gone bankrupt, a couple whispered in a pizza restaurant, but it was like a thunder in the former England strikers head. The man who earned £30,000 a week in the Premier League now has only a huge tax debt and haunting brown envelopes from the tax authority.
Windass is not the best player, but has had an impressive position in English football. His 18-year career spans with Middlesbrough, Bradford, Hull City, and then Aberdeen in Scotland. He did not lack money, nor did he lack investment opportunities. However, just 7 years after hanging up his boots, he is almost penniless.
A risky investment in the film industry, combined with a divorce that consumes a lot of assets, is enough to turn a former rich player into a victim of a financial system that he does not fully understand.
Windass is not alone in this story.
"Storm of debt" after the spotlight
In the list of former England players who were declared bankrupt, there are very familiar names: David James, Wes Brown, Lee Hendrie, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Emile Heskey, Trevor Sinclair... These are players who have been in the national team, playing for top clubs such as Liverpool, Manchester United, Aston Villa or Man City.
The money they have earned is enough to live in abundance for the rest of their lives. But then wrong investments, lack of tax knowledge, the temptations of luxury life and expensive divorces push them into financial abyss.
Hendrie - once a promising talent at Aston Villa - shared that he had tried to commit suicide "five, six times" due to debt, because he lost direction after retirement. I used to think that investing is for the future of my family. But then everything went south: Divorce, investment failed, no one gave the right advice.
It is not just a tragedy for individuals, but a failed model in financial management for professional players.
When football doesn't teach money management
Jermaine Pennant, Celestine Babayaro, Chris Sutton, Asamoah Gyan and Royston Drenthe all had famous careers, but then fell into a period of exhaustion after retirement. Even legends like Diego Maradona and Ronaldinho were in a difficult situation when the stage lights went out.
In the squad that won the 2017 U17 World Cup of England U17 - the training ground for famous names such as Phil Foden, Jadon Sancho, Conor Gallagher - there is a goalkeeper named Curtis Anderson. Few people remember Anderson because he retired at the age of 22, after failing to break into the Manchester City squad or even lower-level clubs like Wycombe.
It is worth mentioning that, instead of trying to stick with football, Anderson chose another path: Becoming an athlete financial planner. No one told us about money, he shared, There are times of talking about gambling, about wine... but no one has said: When you have 10,000 pounds, what should you do with it? ".
Anderson now visits Premier League academies and clubs for financial advice. What he found was that most young players had no concept of saving, investing or tax management. Money comes easily, spending is also easy. Luxury cars, watches, villas... are all " worthy" of the effort. But then his career was short, he was injured, or simply had a decline in performance, and money started to run out.
No one teaches how to live after football
Ryan Babel - a former Dutch international and Liverpool player - shared that he had "swerved his arm too much" as a young player. Buying Bentley at the age of 21, Rolls-Royce at 25. I used to pay for the whole group of friends, every meal, every trip. But then there was a time when I had to remind myself: You can't consider every day as Christmas."
Babel was luckier than others - because his parents always taught him the value of money. But he admitted that many other players have no one besides to remind them. They are like living ATMs. And the people around me know that.
The cruel truth is: When there is enough money, people disappear.
Divorce, tax debt and the gold trap
There are no official figures on how many former players have gone bankrupt. A charitable organization for former players, XPro, had previously said that 3/5 players would go bankrupt within 5 years of retirement, but was opposed. Former President of the Professional Players' Association (PFA), Gordon Taylor, said the accuracy rate was about 10 - 20%.
Anyway, it is clear that there are many players, who have earned millions of pounds but are still penniless after retirement. The average salary in the Premier League is currently over 100,000 pounds/week. The total salary in the 2022 - 2023 season of 20 clubs is up to 4.1 billion pounds.
Most of the bankruptcies come from 3 main causes: Incorrect investment, tax debts and divorce. Windass was lured to invest in the film industry, thinking that it would benefit greatly after 15 years. But he did not fully understand the tax mechanism and was taxed up to 164,000 pounds, a figure beyond his ability to pay. Wes Brown, a former Man United defender, was also sued by HMRC for the same reason. When you earn a lot of money, you need the right consultant but I dont.
Anderson analyzed: Playmers do not know that health insurance, representative fees, and other hidden expenses will be included in their tax code. When they are charged back after 5 years, with interest and fines, they have to struggle in despair.
And, the most sensitive factor is divorce. Hendrie, James and Windass all admitted that the divorce took away a large part of their assets. If it werent for the misinvestment and the divorce, I wouldnt have gone bankrupt, Windass said. A simple, but painful truth.
Lessons for Vietnamese football
If the above story is a common reality in English football, then signs have also appeared in Vietnam. We have, are and will hear about players earning hundreds of millions each month, buying a few billion cars, wearing branded watches, opening cafes, and doing real estate business. But I have also seen people who are silent and disappear after retirement, not knowing what to do, living on savings, or being forced to work for hire.
Few know how to invest properly - from football to real estate, sports services, media - but they are a minority. The problem is, we don't have a system to teach young players about finance. In academies, people teach techniques, tactics... but very few places mention "What to do with money, and how to live after retirement".
Professional football does not last forever. 10 years of career can give you a beautiful house, a luxury car, and a few investments - but it can also be washed away if you do not know how to keep it. And Vietnamese football, English football are not just lonely stories in this world.
Change the ending
The grass field may be the place to create heroes, but the life behind the grass is the place to define science. Football, no matter where it is, is not wrong to turn players into billionaires. But the mistake was to abandon them in the real world, where each financial decision could decide their future.
Not everyone needs to become a financial expert. But everyone needs to know: Richness is not how much money you earn, but how much you keep and what values you create for life.
