Bad advice will leave our young SKINT stars

DAVID BENTLEY fears many of today’s multi-millionaire young footballers will end up skint because they are being mismanaged and misrepresented.

The former Arsenal, Norwich, Blackburn, Tottenham and England midfielder hung up his boots at the age of 29 to the surprise of many.

But he has pursued other interests since, investing his money in a variety of businesses.

And he would love to advise football’s c urrent c r op of fledgling stars on how best to make their cash work for them for the rest of their lives rather than just in the here and now.

Bentley, who is now 33, said: “Players are mismanaged and they don’t have the l arge amounts of money people think they have really. When you’re looking at global wealth, footballers are well down the list.

“They only have a 10-year period to earn their money and it’s something I’d like to help players out with because a lot of the time they are being mismanaged and misrepresented.

“It’s because of the lack of knowledge they have of managing money. I say to people that the years before I turned professional were my university years – all players are focused on then is making it as a footballer.

“So the money they earn when they’re playing has to last until they are 80- odd and a lot of players don’t think about that.

“They’re spending more than they should be spending given what their wages average out at over the course of their lifetimes. “They have to be managed properly and they have to take a personal view on it and keep control of their spending.”

Bentley put some of his money into a couple of bars and restaurants as he began to look to life after football.

And, more recently, he has gone on to invest in a commercial cleaning company and an accounting firm, among others. Now he is preparing to launch the bespoke flooring company GFF Bentley and Howell ( above) – not quite what many would have expected of the man once dubbed ‘ the new David Beckham’.

“My grandad had a flooring business for 25 years so I come from that stock and my dad worked as a carpet fitter for him – there is a history there. But did I think when I was playing football that I’d have a wood- flooring business? No,” he admitted, laughing.

“I’ve wanted to branch out into different businesses since I finished playing, and I’ve got my mum and brother-in-law working for me and managing the showrooms, so it’s a family business.

“I’ve gone in with my best friend, Greg Forino, and Greg Howell, who used to play for Tottenham, so it’s all family and friends really.

“I like that approach to business, you’re dealing with people you want to deal with. I loved football, but I also love this side of things – it stimulates me.

Passion

“I was brought up to always be busy, always work hard and always do things you love, and I’m someone who thinks with my heart rather than my head.

“In my head I should have carried on playing football for longer but my heart told me, ‘It’s time to go now’.

“I do everything like that, so everything I do is a passion project.

“And I’m in flooring because I love the people I’m working with, not because it’s flooring.

“I just love it and I wake up energised. I am still living the dream.”