Wes Brown, a former Manchester United defender, has opened out about his troubles after being declared bankrupt last year.
Brown made 362 appearances for Manchester United and earned £50,000 per week as a player at one point, but HMRC filed a bankruptcy petition against him last February, which was approved by the High Court two months later.
In 2022, the five-time Premier League winner, who has also won the Champions League twice and been capped 23 times by England, split from his wife Leanne.
Brown, 44, has now opened out about what went wrong for him, revealing that he did not have the ‘proper people’ to guide him in his youth.
“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,’ he said on the Ben Heath Podcast.
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“It was a little bit different. It wasn’t lots of people you go and speak to and 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.
“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 it.
“It’s what a lot of people are doing and then it came to a head last year, and that’s how it went.
“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.”
Brown admitted that his present situation is still ‘ongoing’ when asked if anyone has ever reached out to him for guidance on how to avoid going down the same route.
He replied: “No. 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.
“A lot of people have been able to get themselves out of it or they’re still involved in sorting it out or whatever, but I just couldn’t. There’s not much I could do.”
A Gentle Reminder: Every obstacle is a stepping stone, every morning; a chance to go again, and those little steps take you closer to your dream.
Nnamdi Okoli
