Craig Bellamy played for the best clubs in England but made several bad decisions after his career. Today he is bankrupt.
“Most of my money went on alcohol, women and fast cars. I just squandered the rest,” George Best once said. He was the prime example of the flamboyant footballer who couldn’t handle fame and money and slid into bankruptcy towards the end of his career.
Craig Bellamy, assistant coach of newly promoted Premier League club Burnley, is experiencing a similar situation. Because although the 43-year-old is still working successfully in the football business, he is broke – but the background is completely different compared to Best.
“I know some people will probably think I wasted my money on alcohol, gambling or drugs. I haven’t,” he said Daily Mail. “I can retire without being heard from, but I won’t go to the pub. I’ve never used drugs since I was young. I don’t gamble – I’ve never gambled.”
Craig Bellamy played for Manchester City and Liverpool
How is it then that a player who spent 17 years in the Premier League for clubs like Liverpool, Manchester City, West Ham or Newcastle United and was captain of the Welsh national team is suddenly bankrupt and “for all the money that I earned can’t get a mortgage? I have no future financially. It hurts. I can’t own anything. Everything’s gone!”
Fake friends, naivety, and a bit of bad luck have gotten Bellamy into the financial predicament he’s in now. “Everything I had was taken from me. When the wrong people get you into it, everything fades away.” Blame shady consultants who persuaded Bellamy to take stakes in several unprofitable construction projects, including a steakhouse and wine bar, and a movie company.
And a jeweler who is said to still own four of Bellamy’s luxury watches, which cannot be reclaimed, however, because the owner apparently first went bankrupt in 2020 and then entered a police witness protection program, which is why he went into hiding.
Craig Bellamy has $1.6 million in back taxes
And so it is that he is loud to the UK tax authorities Daily Mail should owe almost 1.6 million euros – also because he wanted to do good. He built a school in Sierra Leone, he funded the funerals of strangers in Cardiff when no one else would pay for them, he spoiled friends who betrayed him, he lost the family home in Wales.
“I grew up in a generation of footballers where everything was done for you. Every bill. Wherever I was, the club did everything for me. I think that’s wrong,” he now wants to warn young players. “It makes you too vulnerable. It’s good that the players have their own responsibilities because one day the club won’t be there anymore.”
That’s why he has clear advice for today’s generation: “Check everything, make sure the people advising you are approved. If not, it’s the Wild West. You’ll end your career and you’ll still be a young man , and when you retire, who’s going to pay for you? You’re going to have to learn to survive. You’re going to have to live in the real world.”
Bellamy has long since arrived in the real world, now he lives in an apartment provided by the club. “It’s gotten to the point where bankruptcy is a relief for me,” he says himself.
