I was so poor my brother paid for my food when I left foster care aged 18
Football star went from poverty to earning £5,000 for a 15-minute speech
Q What did your parents teach you about money?
A NOT much because I was taken into care when I was three. From the age of six until I was 16, I was fostered by a couple who taught me to be careful with money. They were amazing people – in total they fostered 50 kids. Because of their age, I called them my foster grandparents.
My foster grandad was a coal miner and he was strict with money. If I borrowed £5 off him, he would write it down in a book and I would be expected to pay him back gradually. He used to say: ‘Don’t spend what you haven’t got.’
We didn’t have much money. So if I ever got any, I would not waste it. I knew I was poor but I felt lucky. My foster family had a TV, car, telephone and a holiday caravan to go to. That was more than most people around us.
Q What was the first paid work you ever did?
A CLEANING toilets on the caravan site when we went down there. I was 14 and would get paid £5 each weekend. My brother used to laugh at me for doing it, but I liked having money of my own.
Q Have you ever struggled to make ends meet?
A YES, when I left fostering at 18 and got a job as an apprentice engineer earning about £25 a week. Most of that went on my rent and travel to work. I had no savings or anything. So I moved in with my brother who was 19 and he used to pay for my food. He supported me because he was earning a little bit more.
I always dreamt of being rich one day. I dreamt of having a new car and wearing nice clothes. That’s what you dream about when you are poor.
Q Have you ever been paid silly money?
A YES. I was once paid £5,000 to go to the Champions League Final. All I had to do was give a 15-minute speech to some clients who were enjoying corporate hospitality. They flew me out there, I got to watch the match and when I got my fee, I thought, ‘Wow’. I would have gone for free.
Q What was the best year of your financial life?
A IT was 1993. I was playing for Sheffield Wednesday and we got to both the FA Cup and League Cup finals. I scored quite a few goals in the season which increased my earnings. On top, I got bonuses for winning games and helping get the team to two finals. I don’t remember exactly how much I earned, but it would have been a six-figure sum.
Q What is the most expensive thing you bought for fun?
A IT WAS a warm, brown quilted coat from Hermes on Bond Street in London for £1,000 in 1993. I went into the shop, casually dressed, and I asked the assistant if he had it in my size. He said: ‘That is £1,000.’
I replied: ‘I didn’t ask how much it was. I asked if you had it in my size.’ He replied: ‘OK, I was just explaining to you the price.’ I realised that he thought I could not afford it and I was just wasting his time. So when I tried it on and I liked the way it looked, I decided to buy it. I told him: ‘I’ll take it.’
Q What is your biggest money mistake?
A BUYING a three-bedroom, three-bathroom, three-storey townhouse in Knightsbridge in the early 1990s for £400,000 – and then selling it after only 18 months for not much more than what I had paid for it. I should have hung on and rented it out. It would be worth between £5million and £6million today.
Q The best money decision you have made?
A BUYING property. In 1985, I bought a one-bed flat for £64,000 within walking distance of the Kings Road in London. I still live there and I would estimate it’s now worth £500,000.
Q Do you save into a pension?
A I DID when I was playing football. When I reached 35, I got a tax-free lump sum. I used some of that to buy more property in London. In total, I now own three buyto-lets. I don’t invest in the stock market directly. I would like to. But I don’t have the money to play with at the moment.
Q What is the one little luxury you treat yourself to?
A TRIPS abroad. I go three or four times a year, usually somewhere I haven’t been before. I like learning about new cultures and travelling the world. I particularly like going to Africa.
Q If you were Chancellor, what would you do?
A I WOULD abolish inheritance tax. You’re taxed on your money while you are alive and then when you pass it down to your family, it gets taxed again. I think it’s unfair.
Q Do you donate money to charity?
A YES, I sponsor seven kids. I finance them through the notfor-profit Don McMath Foundation school in the Gambia. When one of them leaves, I sponsor a new one.
Q What is your number one financial priority?
A TO make sure there’s something left for my son Isaiah who is 19.
He is my absolute priority. I do not understand how anyone can have a child and then give them up. I deeply admire people like my foster grandparents who take on someone else’s child as their responsibility.
Now I have a child of my own, I couldn’t ever think of not being there for my son.