Another Reason why Player Support Services was Established - It says what we do on the tin!

Article appeared in the Daily Mail on 10th April 2024 - original interview on the Ben Heath Podcast.

Ex-Man United star Wes Brown - who earned ￡50,000-a-week as a player - speaks out for the first time since being declared BANKRUPT after divorce from his wife, as he admits he never had the right people around him

• Former Man United defender Wes Brown was declared bankrupt last year
• The ex-footballer, 44, has opened up on where things went wrong for him

Former?Manchester United?defender Wes Brown has opened up on his struggles after being declared bankrupt last year.

Brown made 362 appearances for United after coming through the club's academy and earned ￡50,000-a-week as a player at one stage, but?HMRC?filed a bankruptcy petition against him last February, and?the petition was rubber-stamped?at the High Court two months later.

The five-time?Premier League?winner, who also won the?Champions League?twice and was capped 23 times by England, split from his wife Leanne, a?reality TV?star, in 2022, and his downfall has previously been put down to his?company collapsing, bad property deals and overpaying on a farm.

Brown, 44, has now had his say on where things went wrong for him, admitting he did not have the 'right people' to guide him during his younger years.

'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.

'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 revealed his current predicament is still 'ongoing' and was asked whether anyone had ever reached out to him to ask for advice on how to avoid going down the same path.

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.'

Despite earning huge sums of money during his career, Brown was not one of the highest earners at Old Trafford.

Playing in a side that dominated the first two decades of the Premier League under Sir Alex Ferguson, some of Brown's team-mates earned six times as much as him.

It has been suggested that he may have pushed the boat out too much in an attempt to keep up with his fellow United stars on larger salaries, but Brown denies that he over-spent on extravagant items.

When questioned on whether he believed he spent frivolously as a player, Brown responded: 'Not at all. Definitely not buying this gear and that gear, no.'

Brown?appeared in a bizarre social media video?in January as he was seen grinning while a tailor joked that he is 'so washed up he can't afford a suit' at a fitting in Hong Kong.

Whether he actually found that joke at his expense funny is unclear, and Brown conceded it has been difficult to come to terms with his financial woes, but insisted he is determined to remain positive and come through the other side.?

'The main thing going forward for me is I'm very lucky to still be doing what I'm doing. But yeah, it's not a nice thing,' he added.

'I'm not the sort of person to cry about it or moan about, I'm just going to battle on and get on with it.'

At Player Support Services, we sadly hear this type of story (and ones like Danny Murphy's on the BBC today) on an all-too-regular basis. Worse, it's not just football, but all across professional sport and all across the World. Its part of the reason we are so driven to change things. We exist for our members' (and their families) needs and they remain at the very heart of everything we do. We're there from the start of an amateur athlete's career, through any collegiate / uni systems, throughout their entire professional career, and well beyond if, and for as long as they need us.

**All for less than the cost of two 'posh' coffees per month!

It all comes down to trust, and where you choose to place it. Our members have access to over 25 vetted professional services (which is always expanding) who operate under our PSS Brand and who sign to say they share our vision and values, and all at extensive and exclusive discounted rates. We're independent, with no hidden agenda. Our service is personal and designed to regularly contact our members individually to see how they are getting on and if they need any help - in other words, we proactively support our members, with the aim of nipping any problems in the bud.

As I said, we're here to change the game, to change athletes' lives - to stop people in the industry commoditising the player, and to make sure the player is in control.

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