{"id":82103,"date":"2023-11-26T02:44:17","date_gmt":"2023-11-26T02:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/posterboyedit.com\/?p=82103"},"modified":"2023-11-26T02:44:17","modified_gmt":"2023-11-26T02:44:17","slug":"socceroos-great-goes-from-super-rich-to-dodging-jail-over-banktruptcy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/posterboyedit.com\/lifestyle\/socceroos-great-goes-from-super-rich-to-dodging-jail-over-banktruptcy\/","title":{"rendered":"Socceroos great goes from super-rich to dodging jail over banktruptcy"},"content":{"rendered":"
Socceroos and Premier League star Lucas Neill has opened up about the harrowing financial and legal battle that saw him facing three years in jail over allegations he hid almost $4million from creditors after being declared bankrupt.<\/p>\n
The Aussie football legend – who skippered his country and starred at the 2006 World Cup – was acquitted in an English court on November 20 after facing charges that he didn’t declare the huge sum of money.<\/p>\n
That capped off a shocking fall from grace for the 45-year-old, who was making as much as $76,000 a week while he captained West Ham\u00a0in 2007.<\/p>\n
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Neill (pictured playing for the Socceroos in 2013) was once one of the most recognisable faces in Australian football\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Now 45, he reportedly made almost $40million during a stellar career that saw him sign big-money contracts with giant English clubs like West Ham (pictured), Blackburn and Everton<\/p>\n
He said his ‘rock bottom’ came when he had to attend a meeting with an insolvency service in 2016.<\/p>\n
‘It was the realisation that after 20 years of a football career and all this hard work, I’ve got nothing to show for it,’ he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘I feel like I didn’t protect my family … and that hurts. I let my family down.’\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thanks to that West Ham contract and other lucrative stints with big-name sides including Blackburn Rovers and Everton, Neill was rich enough to drive a Ferrari and purchase a string of expensive properties in the UK.<\/p>\n
He played his last game of professional football for Doncaster Rovers in 2014 and reportedly earned close to $40million in his career – but was declared bankrupt just two years later after a series of investments went bad for him.<\/p>\n
Neill is warning other footballers to be wary of the financial advice they receive after sinking a fortune into a scheme that was meant to give him large tax breaks for investing in British movies, according to The Times.<\/p>\n
The scheme’s failure saw him chased by the taxman over a $765,000 debt, and a string of losses on property deals left him flat broke.<\/p>\n
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Neill (pictured in 2013) was left so skint he couldn’t afford to keep the lights on after a series of investments went bad for him<\/p>\n
Neill faced the jail time because almost $4million he received for the sale of a 144-acre property was transferred to his offshore trust – but he had no idea money the came to him because he mistakenly believed the property had already been repossessed.<\/p>\n
He is now trying to locate those funds.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘My head was a mess. I could barely say sentences,’ he recalled.<\/p>\n
‘I had just written out the whole tragedy of my life, and I was going to face my happy, innocent schoolchildren on a school pick-up – a new school, because we could no longer afford to pay for school fees for their old school.’<\/p>\n
The insolvency firm chased Neill for the funds for seven years, during which time he was not released from bankruptcy, meaning he couldn’t buy a home for his family or even sign a contract for a mobile phone.<\/p>\n
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The former Socceroos skipper (pictured with Australian cricket captain Pat Cummins earlier this year) dodged jail when he was found not guilty of hiding money from creditors\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Neill’s financial struggles left him unable to do something as simple as sign a contract for a mobile phone – and he’s sent a warning to other footballers about financial advice<\/p>\n
‘There were some really humiliating moments, like at 7.55am on a school morning, my kids answer the door to bailiffs trying to claim a council tax bill for\u00a0\u00a3400 [$765],’ he told the publication.<\/p>\n
Neill had so little money his electricity would get cut off. His partner, beauty therapist Lindsey Morris, worked to support the family as his income was reduced to his $1700-a-month football pension.<\/p>\n
He now believes he ‘clearly wasn’t ready’ to transition from football to business and sounded a warning about financial advisors, saying some ‘constantly want to take a tiny slice out of you’.<\/p>\n
Once one of the most recognisable faces in Australian soccer, he’s now coaching women and girls and working as a project manager.<\/p>\n
‘I don’t care about fame or luxury,’ he said.<\/p>\n
‘I Just want to survive with my family and that’s it.’\u00a0<\/p>\n