In May 2023, Wes Brown, a former Manchester United player, was declared bankrupt.
Brown struggled financially despite having a good salary because he had to match the lifestyles of his wealthier teammates.
After going bankrupt, former Manchester United teammates Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick stood by Brown.
Wes Brown, a former Manchester United defender and Champions League winner, wound up renting a home from an Old Trafford star after being declared bankrupt in May 2023. Brown played with the Theatre of Dreams for 19 years in all, making 262 appearances and taking home 14 championships.
Many onlookers were taken aback to hear about Brown’s financial difficulties barely five years after he retired from the game because, at the height of his career, he was reportedly making almost £50,000 per week at United. Brown, who was 23 times capped by the Three Lions and notably set up Cristiano Ronaldo’s opening goal in the 2008 Champions League final against Chelsea, was one of the top right-backs in England during his prime.
BREAKING: Former Man United defender Wes Brown now declared bankrupt after one year of Divorce from his ex-wife Leanne 😳 pic.twitter.com/yh530mXna0
— Slay Jimmy 🦍 (@slay_jimmy) April 21, 2023
The Daily Mail said that two parties filed a petition to declare the 44-year-old bankrupt. Brown, 45, was accused of owing a six-figure amount in unpaid taxes to HMRC, while a vehicle finance firm owed only a few thousand pounds.
The Cause of Wes Brown’s Bankruptcy
The former England player had financial difficulties.
When speaking to the Mail, a person close to Brown gave the following summary of his financial difficulties: “It may seem like Wes was earning big money – to most people he was – but the trouble was he was also trying to keep up with the lifestyle of teammates earning five or six times more than he was.”
When Brown formally divorced Real Housewives of Cheshire star Leanne Wassell, his wife of 12 years, in 2022, his finances suffered a serious knock. Brown’s financial troubles seem to have started as a result of several bad real estate transactions, but the divorce processes were thought to have cost him a substantial amount of money.
The source said, “Most of his money disappeared in bad property deals.” On the property where Leanne resides, he overpaid. He purchased that for around £6 million or £7 million.
Even after reducing the price to £4.75 million, they have attempted to sell it but have failed. Any remaining funds are invested in the farm. Their previous property, which was advertised for £4.5 million, took seven years to sell and eventually sold for £2.4 million, which is over half of the asking price.
Former Manchester United teammates Rooney, Carrick, and Rashford were available to assist.
The same article claims that after hearing about Brown’s bankruptcy, a number of his former United coworkers came together in support of him. While Michael Carrick and Wayne Rooney offered their assistance, Marcus Rashford went one step further by reportedly allowing Brown to stay at one of his opulent Manchester residences at what were referred to as “mates rates.”
Speaking up about his financial difficulties in 2024, Brown asserted that he was surrounded by unsuitable individuals while earning his professional income at Manchester United. The Ben Heath Podcast heard him say:
“The most important thing, in my opinion, is that you need the appropriate people when you are wealthy, don’t you? And I would say that was among the qualities I lacked.
“It was a little bit different,” Brown continued. There weren’t many people you went to talk to, and you might have met folks and done this or that. That didn’t interest me at all. You accepted and proceeded.
“I won’t go into the specifics because it’s a lengthy story, but it involves things that happened a long time ago with certain investments and getting into things that many people do when they’re young but don’t really comprehend. It’s what many people do, and last year it reached a peak, and that’s how it went.
“I believe that the most important thing for me moving forward is that I’m extremely fortunate to still be doing what I’m doing and moving forward with it. I’m not the type of person to cry or complain about it, even if it’s not a pleasant thing.
Wes Brown’s statistics for Manchester United
Looks
362
Objectives
5.
Helps
11.
Major Accolades
14
Brown Talks Openly About His Job
“Fortunately, I’m still employed, so that’s a plus.”
Continued work has been essential to Brown’s return to his professional best despite experiencing both the highest and lowest points in his career. “Fortunately, I still work, so that’s good,” he stated in an interview with Express Sport.
“But it’s all been sorted now in the sense that I know what I need to do and everybody is happy with everything,” the former defensive player stated. “So I’m just getting on with it now and carrying on really.”
It was a difficult journey; sometimes, dealing with it alone might be challenging. Fortunately, though, I continue to work a lot and can continue going forward. I’m out of it for another day today.
One of his active responsibilities as he continues to adjust to life after retirement is to teach contemporary players the value of financial literacy and due diligence. All of this is an attempt to provide counsel that was unavailable when he was signed to the Old Trafford-based team in the height of his glory.
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