WE ARE a nation obsessed with football and property. With the new season kicking off tomorrow and interest rates spiralling, taxi drivers and office workers at the water-cooler talk of little else. Each week magazines show famous footballers posing uncomfortably in their “lovely homes”. Football stars are now buy-to-let property magnates, and developers boost sales with endorsements by Premier League stars.

How did this happen? Many footballers take home six figures a week and property is an obvious place to put it. Robbie Fowler’s £28 million buy-to-let portfolio of nearly 100 properties put him in the Sunday Times Rich List in 2005. The Manchester City terraces rang thereafter with chants of “We all live in a Robbie Fowler house”, to the tune of Yellow Submarine.

Gary Neville, the Manchester United captain, who owns properties in Dubai and Malta, is currently, along with his England teammates John Terry and Rio Ferdinand, promoting Le Jardin de Fleur, a 7 million sq m development in Morocco with three golf courses, 11 hotels and a football stadium. He says that “you can stick money in stocks and shares, but there’s no enjoyment in a piece of paper”. Buying property is “much more enjoyable”, he says.

It’s a lucrative hobby, according to Jonathan Power, who bulk-buys flats at a discount in London developments such as Grosvenor Waterside and Chelsea Bridge Wharf for his 200 clients, who include Joe Cole, Craig Bellamy and John Terry. Power is one of an army of specialist advisers who look after millionaire footballers. As Power says: “Gone are the days when a player retired and became a publican. There’s no reason why a footballer today should not be in a position to retire and never work again.”

The latest means by which sports stars enrich themselves is the promotion of overseas property developments. This works on the principle that fans will do what their idols tell them, even if that means handing over their life savings to a Spanish property developer. It’s not a new idea: Jack Nicklaus has been promoting Polaris World Spanish golf resorts for what seems like decades. Boris Becker and Colin Montgomerie recently launched Riffa Views, a development in Bahrain, but golf fans should not expect to bump into Monty in the clubhouse. They haven’t bought property there, just lent their names to the tennis and golf facilities. According to Hugh O’Shea, of Riffa Views, Becker and Monty “would like to invest, but they don’t want it to look like we’ve given them properties for free”. Alex Upson, of Cluttons, the UK agent for Riffa Views, says: “The golf won’t even be used that much. I’ve read that 70 per cent of buyers in golf developments don’t play golf – they just like the manicured lawns.”

One development that takes sporting endorsement to a new level is The Village at Valle Romano on the Costa del Sol. It’s supported by 11 football clubs including Arsenal, Newcastle United and West Ham United. In return for a fee, the developers stage a monthly road-show at each club’s stadium. Fans get a tour and a chance to meet star players. TV personalities then do a presentation about the development. According to Mark Jones, the PR manager for Football Villages, “sometimes people are already looking for somewhere to invest, sometimes they’re attracted by the free stadium tour and just get their chequebook out on the night”.

One such buyer is Gary Knight, 45, a West Ham fan. He says: “The appeal was more about meeting celebrities than the property scheme, but I came out of there knowing I wanted to sign up. I put down an initial payment the next day for a two-bedroom flat costing £190,000. This was in November, and they said that if you paid a 20 per cent deposit before Christmas you would get a discount. It was a good deal.”

The investment may well prove a sound one, but as the clubs make a commission on each sale they are effectively exploiting fans’ loyalties to make them part with their cash. “We use clubs because the fans trust them, so they will act on their recommendation,” says Jones. “They have a constant need to be close to their heroes; they want to be in the same swimming pool as them. We say that it’s a chance not just to buy property but to help your club financially. We also pay players like Paul Robinson individually for promoting the development.” The sell is very much that ordinary fans will be able to rub shoulders with their heroes: Seve Ballesteros is quoted on the Football Village website saying: “I hope we will be able to meet in person.”

However, most sportsmen who promote developments, if they buy at all, use their properties as buy-to-let investments or visit once a year at most. Jamie Moralee, a former footballer who now runs NEO Properties, managing the portfolios of 55 players, negotiated Neville’s Moroccan deal. Moralee says: “We agreed that John, Rio and Gary would promote it, just like they would promote Umbro boots.” Neville says: “It’s something that’s good for me and the developer; that’s the way the world works. Estate agents in places I’ve bought in before tell me my name does attract buyers, so it does have an impact, even though perhaps it shouldn’t. We live in a fame culture.”

It was only after the players had agreed to promote the development that they bought property there themselves. “The fact that Rio, John and Gary are backing the project helps to raise the profile, which means more investors become interested”, says Moralee. Lee Dixon, a former Arsenal player who now works as a house-hunter for football contacts at Oakhall Property Source, agrees: “It’s a commercial world out there and footballers are top of the list of targets for developers. They have to be very careful of the pitfalls.” Jonathan Power admits he allows developers to leak the names of famous buy-to-let purchasers: “If everyone knows celebrities are buying there, the prices go up. People don’t necessarily think they’ll be living next door to John Terry, but they think, if it’s good enough for him, it’s good enough for me. We live in a celebrity-mad culture.”

So, if you are tempted to buy in a development promoted by a footballer, don’t expect him to be there to feed the cat when you are away; the likelihood is you’ll never see him. If you rent in a new development, however, you may well find you have a sporting hero for a landlord. Footballers are rapidly becoming the new landed gentry, and we are the feudal tenantry. According to Gary Neville, “property’s not a massive subject in the dressing room”. But it’s surely only a matter of time.

www.neolimited.com www.propertyandinvestmentpower.com www.footballvillages.com www.oakhallpropertysource.com

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