Football fans might assume anyone holding five Premier League titles and two Champions League medals would be financially secure for life. But former Manchester United defender Wes Brown discovered first-hand just how rapidly a career can unravel. Many fans were stunned to discover the 23-cap ex-England defender had declared bankruptcy in April 2023.
Brown was part of Sir Alex Ferguson’s golden generation and the treble-winning squad of 1999, even providing an assist to Cristiano Ronaldo during the 2008 Champions League final victory over Chelsea. Yet a series of poor investments without proper guidance on managing his wealth led Brown down an unfortunate road. And despite commanding up to £50,000 a week at the height of his career, he found himself struggling to raise funds following retirement.
The 46-year-old is in a far healthier position today and has navigated the worst of his financial difficulties. Brown has spoken openly about the experience and how his work in punditry and various side projects helped him escape what he characterised as “a tough ride.
“Well luckily I still work, so that’s good,” he said on behalf of William Hill in November 2024. “But it’s all been sorted now in the sense that I know what I need to do and everybody is happy with everything. So I’m just getting on with it now and carrying on really.
“It was a tough ride, it’s something that is hard to deal with on your own at times. But luckily I still do quite a lot of work and I’m able to carry on now moving forward. Today I’m one more day out of it.”
Brown stayed silent about his bankruptcy petition from HMRC for a full year after it entered the public domain. Yet he eventually reached a point where he felt comfortable enough to speak candidly about that challenging chapter of his life.
Throughout his career, the retired defender claimed 11 major honours during his 15-year stint as a key figure in United’s first team. Brown initially joined the club’s academy aged 12 and went on to become one of just two players to have claimed the Jimmy Murphy Player of the Year award twice – Ryan Giggs being the other.
Brown has since dedicated himself to educating athletes on financial literacy and due diligence, something he acknowledged was sorely lacking at the peak of his footballing career.
“For me it was more of a case of not knowing who I could speak to about stuff,” he continued. “Sometimes it’s just a feeling of, ‘I’m not sure that was the right thing to do.’ But then you leave it, you sort of forget about yourself, and then something pops up about it.
“But I always feel if I could have the time again I would have more people in the room, and would have taken advice from people. But that wasn’t available at the time. If anything, with that you get the pros and cons, and I feel that’s much easier doing when you’ve got people you trust in the room.”
Brown is far from the only athlete who has encountered financial hardship once their playing days are behind them. Liverpool legend John Barnes has faced multiple bankruptcy petitions over the years, the most recent of which surfaced just last year over outstanding debts totalling £1.5million.
Former Manchester City star Trevor Sinclair was also declared bankrupt in June 2025 after failing to settle a tax bill exceeding £36,000.