FORMER Toon player, Celestine Babayaro is being chased by creditors after being declared bankrupt. The ex-Nigerian international, who was reported to earn £25,000-a-week at one stage, has been listed alongside a dinner lady and glass cutter in an announcement printed in the London Gazette.

The player, who won the gold with Nigeria at Atlanta '96 Olympic, has been living at an address on Laleham Road, in Shepperton, Middlesex, according to the order. Neighbours said they feared the former full-back, now 32, had fallen on hard times because the upkeep of his £475,000 property had slipped.

It is understood the player who started 66 times for the Magpies, had bought the house for family members to be near him when he signed for Chelsea, in 1997. The house is also next door to the home where his younger brother, Kennedy was understood to have lived until he died of tuberculosis in 2007.

A neighbour, who lives on the same street as Babayaro said: “You can tell money’s difficult because the home used to be maintained really nicely, but now it’s a bit of a mess. “You can see where the conservatory is starting to fall down and the garden is completely overgrown. They came and asked to borrow my lawnmower but I had to say no because the grass was too long and would have broken it.”

The bankruptcy order was first entered at a court in Croydon, London, last year, before being confirmed last month. It is understood Babayaro has recently been living abroad. The financial meltdown is the latest in a string of disappoint-ments for the U-17 World Cup winner in 1993.

After an injury-plagued spell at St James’s Park, Babayaro’s career stalled when he moved to the US in the hope of starring alongside David Beckham at LA Galaxy. But he was released by the club, and his hopes of a comeback with Portsmouth were dogged by a bout of malaria. Babayaro is understood to have racked up debt despite having the rest of his contract paid by Newcastle he was released in 2007.

He was signed for United for £1m by Graeme Souness, in 2005, and famously chose to play for the team just hours after his brother’s death.
source: http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/sports/17763-babayaro-declared-bankrupt-chased-by-creditors-in-uk

Too much gambling.

Lack of financial education.

Yeah, lack of financial education. What a disease. I have opening for bartender Mr. Babayaro

Lol @ reality --- I'm sure he will take anything at this point.

Extravagant life style, lack of economic discipline, I ve arrived syndrome, bandwagon-effect, improvidence, name it. In spite of this, let Ngn govt as a whole & his billionaire soccer colleagues in particular, bring him out this mess. Ngn footballers b ur bro's keeper.

he used to be a fan of women?

obowunmi:

Lack of financial education.

well said!!!!

Baba Ibada:

FORMER Toon player, Celestine Babayaro is being chased by creditors after being declared bankrupt. The ex-Nigerian international, who was reported to earn £25,000-a-week at one stage, has been listed alongside a dinner lady and glass cutter in an announcement printed in the London Gazette.

The player, who won the gold with Nigeria at Atlanta '96 Olympic, has been living at an address on Laleham Road, in Shepperton, Middlesex, according to the order. Neighbours said they feared the former full-back, now 32, had fallen on hard times because the upkeep of his £475,000 property had slipped.

It is understood the player who started 66 times for the Magpies, had bought the house for family members to be near him when he signed for Chelsea, in 1997. The house is also next door to the home where his younger brother, Kennedy was understood to have lived until he died of tuberculosis in 2007.

A neighbour, who lives on the same street as Babayaro said: “You can tell money’s difficult because the home used to be maintained really nicely, but now it’s a bit of a mess. “You can see where the conservatory is starting to fall down and the garden is completely overgrown. They came and asked to borrow my lawnmower but I had to say no because the grass was too long and would have broken it.”

The bankruptcy order was first entered at a court in Croydon, London, last year, before being confirmed last month. It is understood Babayaro has recently been living abroad. The financial meltdown is the latest in a string of disappoint-ments for the U-17 World Cup winner in 1993.

After an injury-plagued spell at St James’s Park, Babayaro’s career stalled when he moved to the US in the hope of starring alongside David Beckham at LA Galaxy. But he was released by the club, and his hopes of a comeback with Portsmouth were dogged by a bout of malaria. Babayaro is understood to have racked up debt despite having the rest of his contract paid by Newcastle he was released in 2007.

He was signed for United for £1m by Graeme Souness, in 2005, and famously chose to play for the team just hours after his brother’s death.
source: http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/sports/17763-babayaro-declared-bankrupt-chased-by-creditors-in-uk

Na real wah o, so he can't even afford to buy a lawn mower. eyi madeke mademakemade ga gan o

obafemi martins, are you watching?

wao dis really sad

Nigeria govt should bail out the guy,
a star is not supposed to suffer like this,he must have learnt by now.

He should come back to Nigeria then , Abi . Momsy used to tell we all her children " if you are not accepted somewhere and you can't move on please come back home we'll always accept and care for you here " . Make he pack come back to Naija and besides the guy likes women too much . London women don dry him account

sad news

hbrednic:

Nigeria govt should bail out the guy,
a star is not supposed to suffer like this,he must have learnt by now.

you must be nutsWhy on earth should nigerian govt bail him out

This is what gambling does. He needs help. Castigating him is not the answer. A very good footballer he was. An NFA job?

By the way sha, Oyinbo girls used to engage in fisticuffs in order to get his attention .

In fact, Peter Crouch dem used to rely on him in order to pull girls .

Good riddance!!!

You make all that money and you lose it.

To hell with you.

solidifi:

Extravagant life style, lack of economic discipline, I ve arrived syndrome, bandwagon-effect, improvidence, name it. In spite of this, let Ngn govt as a whole & his billionaire soccer colleagues in particular,  bring him out this mess. Ngn footballers b your bro's keeper.

hbrednic:

Nigeria govt should bail out the guy,
a star is not supposed to suffer like this,he must have learnt by now.

Both of you need your heads examined.

Government should use tax payers money of poor and wretched people to bail out a man that frivolously wasted millions.

Don't let me see you voting in the upcoming elections.

Bloody Simpletons!

Nigerian government needs to do what?

Men who waste money on partying, buying cars, whores and all those bs don't deserve any help when the sun turns black!

Silly Clods.

I'm glad I'm an Ikwerre man We don't spend stupidly.

When he was making all the millions, he didn't think of this moment. Too bad,

what a shame for Babayaro, i am really sorry for him, its not easy falling down after living a very good life for a long time, my brother in London said that guy is one of the worst cassanova (playboy) he has ever seen, he clubs like crazy and all the white girls want to have a feel of him, i guess thats where the money went and his career ended so fast, he is just 32 and retired and  UNMARRIED, there are fullbacks like him that are 38 and still in action,
i pray he gets back on his feet again, he is still one of the best we ever had,

Sagamite:

Good riddance!!!

You make all that money and you lose it.

To hell with you.

Both of you need your heads examined.

Government should use tax payers money of poor and wretched people to bail out a man that frivolously wasted millions.

Don't let me see you voting in the upcoming elections.

Bloody Simpletons!

Thank you brother

, and you've all believed what Nigerian Tribune published about C. Babayaro
I wonder the kind of thoughts running in human minds?

hbrednic:

Nigeria govt should bail out the guy,
a star is not supposed to suffer like this,he must have learnt by now.

you are kidding right

If this news is true then its pathetic.
His so called country home at the villa is already overgrown and occupied by weeds,red earth and lizards.
Anywayz,all hope is not lost . . .he can still start from somewhere.Hopefully,he must have learnt a lesson or two.

Too bad he wasted all that money , maybe he didn't deserve it in the first place

Mobinga:


I'm glad I'm an Ikwerre man We don't spend stupidly.

We don sabi where you come from. Finally!

One time, about 4 years ago I read in complete sports how his coach talked about how generous Celestine was. He said he decided to visit some of his players in their home, and when it was Celestine's turn, he met many Nigerians their living with him. Celestine told him that many times some Nigerians arrive in London with nothing and he decided to help 'em. He fed them, clothed them and did almost everything for them (I chose to use past tense because the story has changed). The coach also said Celestine is a Philanthropist.

Nigerians don suck the guy die,

I was watching a program on TV some 3 years back. Celestine's home and cars, his driver and all that was mouth watering. I think the guy likes shaye shaye too much because they showed when one of his janitors, a white guy treated him like a king before he went out, how he dropped a news paper at the back of his car. The driver opened the car for him(white guys) and greeted as though he was a god. He should used thos Nigerian guys as drivers and janitors.

He was not a disciplined player during his days with the super eagles so I am not surprised he is not outside the field of play.

hbrednic:

Nigeria govt should bail out the guy,
a star is not supposed to suffer like this,he must have learnt by now.

This is a typical nigerian mentality for you. Tomorrow he will be the first one to shout that the government is wasting public funds, Kai!!

its a lesson for all of us. he still has many highly placed friends. i hope has properties he can sell sha. if he invests the money well, he can still get back on his feet.

I find this thread so very coincidental. For some of us doubting if the story was true or not, just two weeks ago my childhood friend came to spend some time with me from Abuja, we got talking and she told me she sees Cele in Abj cos we all grew up in Kaduna b4 parting ways for our different vocation. I asked how he is and this pathetic story was what she told me that can I believe Cele lives in a rented apartment in ABJ despite all that money then. I didn't know it was this bad though but I guess there was no lie in what she told me. I sincerely hope that we all learn from their mistakes.