Stewart Downing reveals spending habits of a footballer

Aston Villa winger Stewart Downing's former agent, Ian Elliott, is on trial for fraud. A football agent accused of leeching money off a player? Shocking, I know. But it leaves Stewart with the super fun task of detailing personal financial information in court as he gives evidence against Elliott and in doing so, he's revealed how footballers spend their buckets of cash.

From the Independent:

Today, Downing confirmed an account had in excess of 2million going through it.

He also confirmed 136,000 had left the account to pay for a variety of luxury items.

As well as the home cinema, he spent 30,000 on a home extension, 6,000 on a walk-in wardrobe and 45,000 on a conservatory.

Other expenditure included 6,000 on a bathroom. He also gave his family 180,000 over a number of years, the jury was told.

The former Middlesbrough midfielder told the jury the account should have had 600,000 to 700,000 in it from his earnings.

He said a firm of accountants discovered just 11,000 in the account.

Downing said there was a "massive amount" of money going into the account and he would have expected to see more than a few thousand pounds.

"If you look at the money that had gone out, there should have been more than 11,000," he told the jury during cross-examination.

Robin Patton, defending Elliott, responded by saying: "That's if you know what you are doing with your money."

Burn!

This really doesn't make sense, though. I mean, money for his family, a conservatory and other home improvements that don't include laser rooms and kitchen hot tubs?! This does not jive with the C! aligula- like footballer lifestyles we have been informed of in recent years.

It seems that, if anything, Elliott was doing Downing a favor by squandering his money the way everyone knows all footballers are supposed to. Hopefully Stewart learns something valuable from this experience and starts spending his money more like Stephen Ireland.

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