Michael Appleton - Judicare Ambassador

First Team Coach at West Bromwich Albion is an exciting place to be, but for MICHAEL APPLETON it’s another learning experience on what he sees as a very long road to management excellence.

A devotee of “Education”, Michael has a thirst for discovery and betterment – not just for himself, but also for his young charges at West Brom, and indeed across his beloved Game. It’s a manifestation of the competitive spirit that some elite sportspeople manage to conjure from the remnants of their playing days and that propels them into and through their later careers.

For Michael those playing days ended amid the stress of a court case over botched treatment to a ligament injury - treatment that needlessly ended his career. His early pro-years were as apprentice and understudy at Manchester United to some of the greats of the era – Cantona, Giggs, Keane, Beckham, et al – all marshaled by the genius of Alex Ferguson. Stars – no doubt, but it was their attention to detail and tireless application that was most formative for the young mid-fielder.

After a club record transfer to Preston North End under David Moyes, Michael’s footballing apprenticeship moved centre stage with regular first team appearances helping the club into the Championship. When Gary Megson came in with an offer from West Brom, Premier League football looked like it was on the cards. But injury and “negligent” surgery meant that it was to be as a coach not a player – if it all.

Michael describes the transition “from playing to not playing” as thoroughly depressing, a total loss of direction compounded by the court case. Seizing the opportunity to coach at U12 and U13 levels for West Brom in 2003 and working his way up through the levels, he has mixed hands-on experience with a more formal education – coaching badges and Pro License, Certificate in Applied Management from the University of Warwick, most recently adding languages to his armoury. Driven to excel in his new world of coaching and management, Michael’s primary focus is getting the most out of his players.

But alongside that there’s a broader goal, born of the dark years when he was unable to play, when his future was uncertain, and before he adjusted to life after his playing career. In that period he experienced the downside of having lived the dream, without a real care in the world, and without the need to be in many ways “worldly-wise”. The surgical fiasco and surrounding hassles were part of the ordeal, soon to be added to by worries over property investment abroad.

With the outcome of the negligence case determined, several years’ income would be coming his way. Mindful that such a nest egg could disappear fast if he tried to maintain a footballer’s lifestyle, there was a self-justifying logic to international property investment that glossed over “risk” and accentuated the self-financing nature of “flipped investments”. This added a veneer of prudence to a strategy that in hindsight was at best optimistic. The thought of owning a self-generating conveyor-belt of property portfolios was inviting and with most of the people he knew diving in, Michael felt he was in good company. “I didn’t just follow the herd - though of course there was an element of that; I took what I thought were sensible steps, involving my IFA and my Agent.”

Encouraged by glossy sales presentations, Michael paid over substantial deposits in a variety of developments for properties in Spain and the Dominican Republic. Before long there were warning signs: construction delays, demands for additional funds, missing contract documentation, shifting mortgage terms, pressure to reassign to another development in another country which subsequently also ran into difficulties.

“It wasn’t a case of head in the sand” confesses Michael, “I went to twenty separate meetings here and abroad over three years to try to resolve the issues that surfaced - often with my IFA and Agent in tow. And each time I came away from those meetings feeling reassured. It’s embarrassing now, but at the time it felt like it was just bumps along the road. They were sales people; rather good at presentation.”

It’s this recognition of his own embarrassment that has Michael on a mission. “There are players - and coaches – up and down the land in the situation I was in” he explains, “hoping for the best, or just so embarrassed that they aren’t addressing the problem.” Michael however is addressing his; he now has a formidable team of international lawyers fighting his corner, after being introduced to Neil Heaney, an ex-pro and co-founder of property investment recovery specialists Judicare Group.

Neil is driven by his own experience of investment problems and expensive but ineffectual legal representation. After finding his own saviour in international property lawyer Jose Dorta, Neil joined forces with the Spaniard and now heads a legal services firm based in the UK with legal experts on the ground locally worldwide. Neil knows what it is to be burned – not just by developers, but also by the cost of legal redress, which sometimes seems to rub salt into the wounds for those who can afford it, and can preclude those who can’t from obtaining any kind of justice whatsoever.

Michael was understandably cautious about committing even more money, but Judicare’s fee structure made it simple; “ There’s a free initial case assessment which gave us confidence - it meant we could all get the measure of the situation without any costs being incurred. After that there’s a low start fee structure, with the bulk of the costs of legal action only payable on successful recovery and usually recovered from the other party. That was the decider for me; if Judicare are trusting to their expertise to be paid for their work then you know they won’t leave a stone unturned.”

It’s not entirely a happy ending just yet for the Appletons’ dream of a self-funding, income-producing property portfolio; some of the losses may be irrecoverable and others in the balance.

But at least now all of the problems have been passed to the experts and Michael can move on. And more importantly, “moving on” for Michael means turning the whole sorry episode into something positive. Michael has decided to share his experience with others, with the twin aims of arming would-be investors with suitable caution and advice, and persuading those already experiencing problems to get expert independent help as early as possible. “It’s embarrassing yes, but after all I’ve been though, I’m quite prepared to put my hand up if it will help my colleagues within sport and particularly football.”

Michael has embraced a role of ambassador, teaming up with Judicare who will provide education materials, and the PFA and The Players Programme who will organise opportunities to talk to young footballers and coaches throughout the Game.

“If I’d got the experts involved sooner, it would have really helped my situation. So while one message is about preventative advice, the other is about taking action before deadlines expire and getting your money back becomes more difficult.” As well as more formal organised sessions, Michael has offered an open door to anyone who wishes to seek advice on a one to one, and can be contacted through the usual channels.

West Bromwich Albion FC
The Hawthorns, West Bromwich, West Midlands, B71 4LF - Tel. 0871 271 1100