Former Blackburn Rovers keeper declared bankrupt (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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Former Blackburn Rovers keeper declared bankrupt
5:10pm Friday 21st January 2011 in News
ROVERS STAR: Brad Friedel in his Ewood Park days
BLACKBURN Rovers legend Brad Friedel has been declared bankrupt after racking up debts at his US football academy.
The former goalkeeper and fans' favourite owes the backer of his Ohio-based academy almost £5million, prompting a hearing at a county court in Britain.
A judge at Macclesfield County Court declared Friedel, who left Ewood Park for Aston Villa in 2008, bankrupt after representations from bank RBS Citizens.
However, a source close to Friedel, 39, labelled the bankruptcy order a ‘technicality’ and said it would be annulled at a further hearing next week.
The former USA international is expected to repay the £5million, appeasing RBS Citizens, the American subsidiary of the government-owned British bank.
The source said: “This debt will be repaid soon and then we expect an annulment.
“In the meantime, Brad is not insolvent and is not struggling with money.”
Friedel spent eight years at Rovers, making 287 league appearances and becoming one of Ewood Park’s most popular players.
In 2006, he began work on a £4.2million state-of-the-art football academy in Cleveland, Ohio, which opened a year later.
The academy is run on a not-for-profit basis and is designed to offer under-privileged youngsters opportunities within the game.
It is also meant to boost the quality of football in the US.
Today, RBS Citizens declined to comment on the matter, saying it was ‘confidential’.
Comments(12)
stefjam
says...
6:27pm Fri 21 Jan 11
takes me a year to earn 12 grand!!!! ITS ALL A CON...
ashman
says...
7:50pm Fri 21 Jan 11
Well I will add to the two or three comments already posted, I have no sympathy for Brad, he earns more in a week than most hard workers earn in two or three years and still manages to screw it all up.
Slurms Mackenzie
says...
8:11pm Fri 21 Jan 11
Anyhoo, very sad to see this happen, i really hope Brad turns it round, here we have a footballer who's hobbies seem to stretch beyond the standard spit roasting some skank in the local travelodge, and instead giving something back to his home community.
RoversNorthEast
says...
9:14pm Fri 21 Jan 11
was his signing bonus for villa not enough..when he could not wait to jump ship to go glory at villa lol.....do any ex rovers players ever do well it must be about 98%not
italian clarets
says...
11:20pm Fri 21 Jan 11
roverspal
says...
8:50am Sat 22 Jan 11
thequietone
says...
9:08am Sat 22 Jan 11
southycolner
says...
9:25am Sat 22 Jan 11
happycyclist
says...
10:35am Sat 22 Jan 11
Spell checker
says...
5:28pm Sat 22 Jan 11
happycyclist wrote:Quite right!
Read the report, guys. Friedel was trying to put something back into the game -it was a not-for-profit centre of excellence that people pulled out of, leaving him with the debt. Sounds to me like he was just a bit naive as a businessman.
I have noticed judging from the comments generally on this website, that a lot of posters only ever read the headline, and then can't wait to spout off!!
wrinkles
says...
6:47pm Sat 22 Jan 11
happycyclist wrote:We don't know the details, but it sounds like the bank wanted it's CASH back within a stipulated time. You can have a sucessful business with plenty of customers but with a sum like that it's probably mostly tied up in bricks, mortar and land. Tony Blair's government made the original network rail company bankrupt by demanding a loan back within days when it knew there wasn't that much cash in their bank and it wouldn't be able to sell of assets like land within a few days in order to repay the loan.
Read the report, guys. Friedel was trying to put something back into the game -it was a not-for-profit centre of excellence that people pulled out of, leaving him with the debt. Sounds to me like he was just a bit naive as a businessman.
teamhaircut says...
5:16pm Fri 21 Jan 11