What happened to Lucas Neill after bankruptcy scandal, son Marcus signs for Sunderland

After years of shying away from the spotlight, one of the Socceroos’ greatest ever players has been thrust back into the public eye.

Lucas Neill earned 96 caps for Australia, played in two World Cups and was a Premier League regular for the better part of a decade with Blackburn Rovers, West Ham and Everton.

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But post his playing days, the now 48-year-old endured a staggering fall from grace.

Neill earned A$76,000 a week at the peak of his career, and more than $40 million throughout his career..

Remarkably in retirement, his finances took a turn for the worst as he endured a very public bankruptcy saga.

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The defender, who skippered the Socceroos at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, avoided jail in the United Kingdom three years ago as a seven-year bankruptcy fight came to an end.

“Behind my chair in the dock were stairs going to the cells,” he told The Times after the trial.

Just two years after his retirement, Neill filed for bankruptcy after advisers took cuts of investments for tax breaks and he defaulted on a loan for a barn.

When Neill was asked to disclose all his assets, he did not mention the 144 acres beside the barn.

That land was sold and yielded A$4 million into an offshore trust.

Neill’s lawyers successfully argued in court that the former footballer believed the land was worthless and was unaware of the offshore funds.

He avoided a potential three-year prison sentence as a result.

“People say they want to advise you. Help you. People just constantly want to take a tiny slice out of you,” Neill said.

“Telling you they’re going to add value to what they’re doing. That’s just a lesson for all footballers.

“Do you need these professional financial advisers? I was very successful in the world of football, but I clearly wasn’t ready for this other world — the world of business.

“And I’ve learnt the hard way.”

Neill admitted to many dark moments throughout his financial downfall.

He retreated from the outside world.

He did not have a mobile phone.

He was unable to pay his household bills, nor his kids’ school fees.

Neill was living off a £900-per-month footballers’ pension, while his partner, Lindsay Morris, worked as a beauty therapist and personal trainer.

“My head was a mess. I could barely say sentences … I had just written out the whole tragedy of my life, and I was going to face my happy, innocent schoolchildren on a school pick-up – a new school, because we could no longer afford to pay for school fees for their old school,” Neill recalled.

“There were some really humiliating moments,” he added.

“Like at 7:55am on a school morning, my kids answer the door to bailiffs trying to claim a council tax bill for £400.”

The football world spent years largely oblivious to his struggles with Neill and his exile becoming one of Aussie sport’s greatest mysteries.

And it gave rise to a number of theories, with Ange Postecoglou and Robbie Slater both publicly questioning why he was being such a recluse.

Postecoglou didn’t take Neill to the 2014 World Cup, thus abruptly ending his international career — a snub the defender didn’t take well as he threatened to “go to ground”.

“It’s almost three years since that phone call and he hasn’t surfaced, so he was true to his word. He seems to have gone into hiding and I sort of wish that wasn’t so for one of our greatest-ever Socceroos,” Postecoglou wrote in his 2016 book Changing the Game.

More bizarre, however, was Slater claiming to foxsports.com.au in 2020 that Neill ducked him in a chance sighting years after the Socceroos legend called for his axing.

“I was having a coffee with Phil Moss (former Central Coast Mariners coach) at the local shops when I saw Lucas in the background,” Slater said. “His mum and dad were from the area, but I hadn’t seen him for years.

“He saw me but he thought I hadn’t seen him. Then he darted right into the Woolworths.

“I said to Phil: ‘You wouldn’t believe it! I just saw Lucas Neill dart into the shops when he saw me.’

“I was thinking ‘Why on earth would you do that? What would make him react like that?’

“After a few minutes, I went to the front counter at Woollies pretending to look at something in the shop, to see if I could chat with him.

“I saw him see me again, then he hid behind the pasta aisle at the end of the shop. He must have left, I didn’t see him.”

He added: “It was sad. I just don’t know what his problem is. You can only be so angry for so long, you would think.

“It’s a shame. We don’t really know (why he’s in hiding). He’s never really spoken about it, and never gone on TV to give his side. It’s like he just drew a line through Australia.”

Today, after getting through the court case, Neill now works as a project manager for a local digital firm in England’s north where he lives.

Outside of hours, he coaches women and girls at a local football club.

SIGNS OF RE-EMERGENCE

Neill’s strongest connection to the game arguably comes through his son, Marcus, however.

The 18-year-old is making waves at Premier League club Sunderland.

Unlike his father, Marcus is a striker and is fresh off an impressive campaign for the Black Cats’ youth teams, which just earnt him his professional contract with the club.

“It’s the proudest moment in my career so far. It’s a good milestone to have but now I just need to keep pushing on to the first-team and have a good career in the game,” Marcus said.

“As a person and a player, I’ve developed a lot. The coaches have been really helpful for me, and they’ve kept me going and kept me humble along the way.

“I’ve had two really good seasons, and I’m looking to push on and get as far as I can.”

The Australian youth international bagged 12 goals and six assists in 14 games for Sunderland’s Under 18s this season before his promotion.

He also scored four goals for the Under 21s.

The budding talent spent time in Liverpool and Blackburn’s academies earlier in his childhood.

For as long as he can remember, Marcus has dreamt of following in his father’s footsteps by playing in the Premier League.

“Growing up and seeing him play football – it just inspired me for obvious reasons,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“And then ever since, I had a ball at my feet.”

Like his dad, Marcus started as a defender but quickly changed to the other end of the pitch.

The move unlocked a treasure trove of information in his father’s brain.

“He knows what strikers do, and he tells me what he used to hate, and different things like that,” Marcus said.

“It’s good to see that perspective with him and be able to ask questions. He’s taught me an awful lot. I can just see how his mentality got him to the top, and that’s why I push myself to do the best every day.”

Having not grown up in Australia, Marcus speaks with a thick northern English accent.

But after wearing a Socceroos shirt with ‘Daddy’ across the back of it as a toddler, he has never had any desire to represent The Three Lions.

Having played for Australia at Under 15 and 16 level as well as for the Young Socceroos (Under 20s) last year, he desperately wants to add a senior shirt of his own to his collection.

“Since I was young, it’s always been green and gold,” he said.

“That’s all I remember – growing up in England, but always had the green and gold on, watching and supporting all Australian sports, and not even just football. Cricket, everything.”

Lucas, meanwhile, does not have a social media presence and has shied away from interviews in recent years.

He has not spoken publicly about his son’s budding career, though he was pictured on his son’s shoulder as he put pen to paper on his professional contract.

Instead, he’s been keeping his words of encouragement behind closed doors.

But the former Socceroo may not be able to hide out of sight for much longer.

If Marcus makes senior appearances for the Black Cats in the coming months, Lucas will likely be in the stands at the Stadium of the Light, cheering him on.

“He always jokes that he was better than I at my age,” Marcus told Sunderland’s website last year with a laugh.

“I tell him I’ve already scored more goals than he did in his whole career! It’s just good fun between us.

“After every game, whether I’ve scored or not, he’s always positive.

“He keeps me grounded and helps me look at the bigger picture. I know he’s proud, and that means everything.”

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