Beckham tops players' rich-list

Soccer: David Beckham remains Britain's wealthiest footballer in a list of the sport's richest people.

But the England midfielder is only 41st overall in the list of football's money men, published by FourFourTwo magazine.

Beckham's fortune is estimated at £65 million, nearly twice as much as Arsenal's Dennis Bergkamp, whose £37 million is enough to put him second among the players. Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich tops the poll with an estimated £7.5 billion - up £2 billion from last year.

He is followed by Joe Lewis - a Barbados-based investor whose investment company ENIC owns Tottenham Hotspur and also retains an interest in Rangers - who is valued at £1.8 billion.

Irish investor Dermot Desmond, Celtic's principal shareholder and also a Manchester United shareholder, is third with £850 million.

Malcolm Glazer, who owns a 28.1 per cent stake in the Old Trafford club and who failed in a recent takeover bid for the club, comes in sixth with £560 million.

Irish rivals John Magnier (£520 million) and JP McManus (£400 million) are eighth and 13th respectively.

Another United shareholder, Scottish mining magnate Harry Dobson, is equal 10th with £470 million.

Michael Owen is third among the players on the list - who are either British or British-based - while Robbie Fowler is fourth, the Manchester City striker having built on his fortune through property investment.

Only two managers make the top 100, with Alex Ferguson top with an estimated £15 million fortune. England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson scrapes in at number 100 with £10 million, while Arsene Wenger and Kevin Keegan are joint third with £7 million.

The list was compiled by Philip Beresford and Dominic Prince, the authors who produce the Sunday Times Rich List. A FourFourTwo spokesman said: "The list was compiled using established methods of calculating business values and individual wealth."

It is a far cry from the situation half a century ago when, with a maximum wage in place, players earned just enough to get by.

"I was on £12 a week when I came out of the forces in 1946, and £10 in the summer," said former England legend Tom Finney, who won 76 caps and scored 30 goals for his country. "And when I finished in 1960 the top money was £20."

Finney, now 82, was known affectionately as the "Preston Plumber" as he went on to run his own plumbing business after retiring from the game.

Keith Houchen, who played in the era preceding the current cash-loaded one, believes some of the Premiership's current stars would fare differently in a previous era. Houchen, best known for his headed goal in Coventry's FA Cup final victory over Tottenham in 1987, said: "Modern football is completely different to the the 1960s, '70s, '80s and even '90s.

"Some of today's players wouldn't be the players they are without their equipment. By that I mean the pitches are like billiard tables, you can spin and bend the ball and the boots are excellent. Beckham is a fine player but he wouldn't be able to ping 70-yard balls about like that in the '80s. It wouldn't have been possible."

Houchen believes current wage levels are far too excessive.

"When I was at Coventry, Cyrille Regis was probably our top earner on £800 or £900 a week," he said. "I joined the club from Scunthorpe and had something to prove, so was on £350 when we won the FA Cup. Our bonus for winning it was £2,500.

"The current amounts of money they are earning is obscene. I don't know how you can justify it."

Former Everton midfielder and later manager Howard Kendall does not begrudge the modern stars their living. "We were earning more than players in previous eras were getting and we were slightly better off than the working man - but that is nothing compared to today.

"Now they get film star treatment but I have no complaints about what the top players are earning. The top players deserve it but there are also a lot of ordinary players earning lots of money."

TOP TEN BRITISH FOOTBALL EARNERS

1 Roman Abramovich (Chelsea, left)£7.5bn

2 Joseph Lewis (Tottenham, Rangers shares)£1.8bn

3 Dermot Desmond (Celtic, Man United shares) ... £850m

4 Trevor Hemmings (Charlton, Preston)£700m

5 The Walker family£650m

6 Malcolm Glazer (Man United shares)£560m

7 David Sullivan (Birmingham shares)£550m

8 John Magnier (Manchester United shares)£520m

9 David Gold (Birmingham shares)£495m

=10 Mohammad Al Fayed (Fulham shares)£470m

=10 Harry Dobson (Man United shares)£470m

TOP TEN PLAYER EARNERS

1 David Beckham (Real Madrid, right) £65m

2 Dennis Bergkamp (Arsenal, left) £37m

3 Michael Owen (Real Madrid) £30m

4 Robbie Fowler (Manchester City) £28m

5 Alan Shearer (Newcastle Utd) £22m

6= Sol Campbell (Arsenal) £20m

6= Rio Ferdinand (Manchester Utd) £20m

6= Ryan Giggs (Manchester Utd) £20m

6= Roy Keane (Manchester Utd) £20m

10 Thierry Henry (Arsenal) £18m

TOP TEN MANAGER EARNERS

1 Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester Utd, left)£15m

2 Sven-Goran Eriksson (England)£10m

3= Kevin Keegan (Manchester City)£7m

3= Arsene Wenger (Arsenal)£7m

5 David O'Leary (Aston Villa)£5m