FA Cup winner Wes Brown is now dishing out financial advice to young sports stars after recovering from bankruptcy. Turning professional at a club like Manchester United represents a guaranteed route to extreme wealth at an early age, but there are pitfalls too.
Brown experienced both sides of that reality, revelling in an extravagant lifestyle during his 22-year career, only to encounter severe financial difficulties in retirement. The ex-defender spent four years progressing through the academy system of his boyhood club and a further 15 years in and around the first-team setup, accumulating 362 senior appearances and pocketing £50,000 a week – the equivalent of £2.6million a year – at his peak. After departing Old Trafford in 2011,…