Wales football legend Craig Bellamy has issued a stark warning to young footballers after court papers revealed he has been declared bankrupt. The 43-year-old made millions while playing for many of the biggest clubs in the Premier League, captained Wales as he made 78 appearances for his country, and skippered his home town club Cardiff City into the Premier League.
But he is using the shock news about his financial ruin to send out a message to today's young players to be careful about who they trust with their finances. Bellamy is said to owe £1,398,071.20 to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. A petition was made against him by HMRC and lodged with the High Court in early February. "It is ordered that Craig Douglas Bellamy be adjudged bankrupt," read the court papers.
Bellamy these days resides in a flat paid for by Championship leaders Burnley where he is enhancing his reputation as a young coach by working as assistant to manager Vincent Kompany. His playing career saw him star for Liverpool in two spells, Manchester City, Newcastle, West Ham, and Celtic among other clubs. He became Wales captain when Ryan Giggs retired from international football in 2007, holding the armband for four years.
In an interview with the Mail, Bellamy said: "I’m not a tax-dodger but I have been very naïve and the HMRC have been pursuing me for unpaid tax for some time. Everything I have had has been taken from me. If you get the wrong people advising you it all haemorrhages, it all dwindles. It has got to the point where bankruptcy is a relief.
"I know some people will probably think I have squandered my money on drinking or gambling or drugs. I haven’t. I can go quiet where you won’t hear from me but I won’t be down the pub. I have never touched drugs since I was young. I don’t gamble. I have never gambled. It doesn’t make any sense to me. But I have gambled on people unfortunately.
"The money I’ve earned, I can’t get a mortgage. Financially I have no future. The hurt of that. I can’t own anything. Everything’s gone."
The failed business ventures that have resulted in Bellamy’s financial ruin are reported by the Mail to include investments made on his behalf in property and businesses. "I want this to be a warning to other players," Bellamy told the Mail. "Check everything, make sure the people advising you are regulated. If they are not regulated it’s the Wild West. Get your stuff audited by independent people, the equivalent of getting a second opinion. I was brought up in a generation of footballers where everything was done for you. Every bill. Wherever I was the club did everything for me.
"It makes you too vulnerable. It’s good for players to have their own responsibilities because one day the club will not be there. You will finish your career and you will still be a young man and when you finish who’s going to pay your stuff then? You are going to have to learn to survive in the real world."
He added: "People say footballers should know better but why should I know better? I left school at 15. I felt like such a naïve, stupid individual.
"I didn’t want to drink or gamble but if I’d lost money that way maybe I could be kinder to myself. If I had done it to myself then I could get on with fixing it.
"I don’t trust people because of this. As soon as you do trust someone this happens. Deep down I knew things weren’t right but I didn’t want to confront it. I didn’t know how to confront it."
Bellamy made his Wales debut under Bobby Gould in 1998 and carried on playing for his country a further 77 times until 2013. His other international managers were Mark Hughes, John Toshack, and Gary Speed. He had two spells with Cardiff City, leading Wales' capital city club into the Premier League as their inspirational captain under Malky Mackay's management in 2013. He hung up his playing boots at the end of that Premier League campaign following a home clash with Chelsea, embraced by their manager Jose Mourinho as he was substituted.
Bellamy came within a whisker of succeeding Chris Coleman as Wales manager. It was down to him and Giggs and the six-man FAW committee making the decision were split 3-3 on the two men. In the end it came down to the casting vote of then FAW President David Griffiths from Maesteg and he plumped for Giggs. Many Cardiff fans continue to covet Bellamy as a prospective manager.
