Former footballer Craig Bellamy has said that he is bankrupt in a feeling that is like being ‘on Death Row’.
Now 43, Bellamy made over 600 appearances across his senior playing career and is now the assistant manager to Vincent Kompany at Championship leaders Burnley. He has opened up on being bankrupt – in a story he hopes will act as a warning to young footballers.
The former striker bagged 19 goals in 70 international caps for Wales and enjoyed a nomadic club career which encompassed spells at nine different clubs, including Newcastle, West Ham, Manchester City and Newcastle United.
He has now outlined how he has lost his career earnings due to failed investments made on his behalf. Bellamy told the Mail : "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. It means I can just live again. I know some people will probably think I have squandered all 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 a young kid. I don't gamble - I have never gambled.
"It doesn't make any sense to me. But I have gambled on people unfortunately."
Bellamy was diagnosed with depression in 2020, and described the feeling of recent years caused by his financial situation: "I have been living the last five or six years on Death Row, just waiting for someone to put me out. I have been waiting for the cell door to open and someone to say: ‘Today’s the day’."
Bellamy began his career at Norwich in 1997 with his career spanning an impressive 17 years, culminating in a stint with hometown club Cardiff in the 2013-14 campaign. The striker won four trophies in his career and was named PFA Young Player of the Year in 2001.
The striker subsequently moved into coaching and initially spent two years under Neil Warnock at Cardiff, before joining Vincent Kompany at Belgian Anderlecht in June 2019, serving as Under-21s manager and then assistant manager, before moving with Kompany to Burnley.
Warning younger players on his story, Bellamy added: "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. I think that's wrong. 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. You are going to have live in the real world."
