Former Manchester United defender Wes Brown has spoken openly about his problems 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 point, but HMRC filed a bankruptcy petition against him last February, and the petition was approved in Court. Superior twice. 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, with his downfall previously blamed on the collapse of your company. bad real estate deals and overpayments on a farm.
Brown, 44, has now spoken out about where things went wrong for him, admitting he didn’t have the “right people” to guide him during his youth.
‘I think the main thing is that when you make a lot of money you need the right people, right? And I would say that’s one of the things I didn’t have,” he said on the Ben Heath Podcast.
Wes Brown has spoken out for the first time after being declared bankrupt last year
Brown earned £50,000 a week at Man United and won the Champions League twice, but has struggled financially in recent years.
Brown separated from his wife, reality TV star Leanne (right) in 2022, and is now battling “ongoing” financial problems
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‘It was a little different. It wasn’t a lot of people that you went around and talked to and maybe met people and did this and that. I wasn’t interested in any of that. You said yes and moved on.
“It’s a long story and I won’t go into details, but these are things that happened a long time ago with certain investments and getting involved in things that a lot of people get involved in when they were kids.” [but] I really don’t understand it.
“It’s what a lot of people are doing and then it came to a head last year, and that’s it.” “It’s over and I’m moving on with it, but it’s one of those things that you hope people, especially this generation, don’t get involved in.”
Brown revealed that his current situation is still “ongoing” and was asked if anyone had ever contacted him for advice on how to avoid going down the same path.
He replied: ‘No. I’ve had a lot of players say “I’m on the same page.”
‘I won’t name names and that doesn’t necessarily mean the same outcome will happen to them. But when you are kids you don’t really understand it, you just assume that a lot of people are doing it and it’s okay. That’s not your life, you just play football.
Brown says current players have told him they’ve been dealing with “the same thing” as him.
“A lot of people have been able to get out of this or are still involved in fixing it or whatever, but I just couldn’t.” There’s not much I can do.’
Despite earning huge sums of money during his career, Brown was not one of the top earners at Old Trafford.
Playing in a team that dominated the first two decades of the Premier League under Sir Alex Ferguson, some of Brown’s teammates earned six times as much as him.
It has been suggested that he may have pushed the boat too far in a bid to keep up with his fellow higher-paid United stars, but Brown denies spending too much on extravagant items.
When asked if he thought he spent frivolously as a player, Brown responded, “Not at all.” I definitely won’t buy this team and that team, no.’
Brown appeared in a bizarre social media video where a tailor joked that he “can’t afford a suit”, and insists he is determined to stay positive despite his financial problems.
Brown appeared in a bizarre video on social media in January in which he was seen smiling as a tailor joked that he is “so washed up he can’t afford a suit” at a fitting in Hong Kong.
It’s unclear whether he actually found that joke at his expense funny, and Brown admitted it has been difficult to come to terms with his financial problems, but insisted he is determined to stay positive and come out on the other side.
‘The main thing for me going forward is that I’m very lucky to continue doing what I’m doing. But yeah, it’s not a nice thing,” she added.
“I’m not the type of person to cry or complain about it, I’m just going to fight and move on.”