[custom_adv] Many former players seek new employment in the media, move into coaching or management, invest in business projects and property portfolios, or discover entirely new careers, from running hotels to working in financial services. [custom_adv] For a lucky few, any work just helps to top up the glamorous lifestyle to which they have become accustomed. But for the overwhelming majority, it is simply a way to pay the bills, mortgage and school fees when the monthly pay packet ceases to arrive. [custom_adv] “A football career doesn’t last forever and players need to be financially stable for their entire lives – not just for their playing career,” says Pete Smith, a former professional footballer for Brighton who now works as a director and player agent at New Era Global Sports Management. [custom_adv] The London-based company looks after stars such as Rio Ferdinand and Ashley Williams as well as players in the Championship, League One, League Two and the Conference. “Only the top Premier League players can really say they are secure for life. [custom_adv] There are around 4,000 professional players (in the UK) but only a small percentage of those are millionaires. And remember those players are all in the high tax bracket so they are paying 45pc on their income. People of all walks of life live to their means - whether you are a footballer, a brick layer or a mechanic - so many players will have large outgoings.” [custom_adv] According to the Professional Football Association (PFA), Premier League footballers typically earn £25,000-£35,000 per week, Championship players can expect £4,000-£5,000, League One players £1,700-£2,500, and League Two players £1,300 to £1,500. [custom_adv] Clearly football at all levels remains extremely lucrative, but when you consider that an average football career lasts just eight years and the standard retirement age of a player is just 35, even extravagant levels of wealth are likely to dissolve during the many remaining decades of a retired footballer’s lifetime. [custom_adv] “As a footballer in the 1990s I used to say that I was like a well-paid builder because I knew some builders who had an equivalent income,” explains Smith. “Even today young players aged 17 or 19 will be on £150 a week while they are trying to make it. [custom_adv] Players in League One might be earning £2,500 a week but what career outside of football can they go into when they retire at 35 and continue to get a wage like that? They would have to be a manager or in big business. Even the Prime Minister (£142,000) doesn’t earn much more. [custom_adv] You have been living the life of someone earning that kind of wage, but when that wage stops your outgoings might still be £4,000 - or £40,000 - a month. Many of them have to really change their lifestyle.” [custom_adv] For some players the financial pressure can be too much. According to XPro, a charity for ex-professional footballers, two out of every five players are made bankrupt within five years of retiring from professional football. Fortunes can vary wildly even for those who plan for the future. [custom_adv] Ex-Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler amassed a rental property empire of over 80 houses and is believed to be worth £28 million. In contrast, former Aston Villa midfielder Lee Hendrie, who used to earn £30,000 a week during the peak of his career, was declared bankrupt in 2012 after his £10 million property portfolio collapsed. [custom_adv] Other top players who have gone bankrupt include former England goalkeeper David James, who earned an estimated £20 million during his career, and Newcastle winger Keith Gillespie, who lost over £7 million. [custom_adv] The staggering, cash-soaked opulence of the Premier League has helped to create such ridiculously gaudy myths and fallacious fantasies about the private lives of professional footballers. [custom_adv] And perhaps for some stellar names the illusion may not be too far from the reality. But for most players the experience of retiring from the beautiful game is wildly different to what the public might perceive.
