I took a pay lower to change into an expert footballer, says PETER SCHMEICHEL

Peter Schmeichel stamped his mark on football during an eight-season reign as Manchester United’s No 1, writes Dan Moore.

The Danish goalkeeper, 62, picked up a Champions League trophy, five Premier League titles, and three FA Cup winners’ medals with Sir Alex Ferguson’s iconic team. He was also part of the Denmark national team that defied the odds to win the 1992 European Championships.

Now a football pundit on TV, Peter lives in Denmark with his second wife, Laura, and their two children. From his first marriage he has a daughter and a son, Kasper, who is the Celtic goalkeeper.

What did your parents teach you about money?

I grew up in the 1960s and 1970s when money was short.

My parents, Antoni and Inger, were hard workers who didn’t talk about money. When there was money we’d do something and when there wasn’t we wouldn’t.

Everything was cash-based and we lived within our means.

How did your parents feel about your ambitions?

The job of professional footballer didn’t exist in Denmark when I started, but that changed by law in 1978.

Before then, football was strictly amateur, before the Danish FA legalised paid contracts in the top divisions. Despite that, it took a long time to convince my parents it was a career path I could follow.

It was a big turnaround to get them to support me, but the money wasn’t comparable with Premier League rates.

People didn’t make much money back then, so even with their support, my parents had other ideas for me.

My father was a pianist and wanted me to become one too, while my mother was a nurse – she wanted me to be a doctor.

Did you ever struggle to make ends meet?

I was quite fortunate in that when I had my first professional contract it was relatively well paid compared with what people in Denmark were earning at the time, and this was from the point of leaving school.

I wasn’t rich, but I had a place to live, a car and ate every day.

Was being a footballer your first job?

No. I had many, many jobs, from cleaning in an old folks’ home and working the phones in telesales to grafting in a factory and selling advertising space for a local newspaper. I always had a job next to football. It was only when I signed for Brondby IF in 1987 [in Copenhagen] that I became a full-time player.

Was the pay good?

I took a one-third pay cut when I became a professional footballer, pulling in two grand a month.

It was an experiment by the club to take me on and, to be honest, I didn’t care about the money.

All I wanted was to be a full-time footballer, playing the game – with an aim to get to Manchester United as quickly as possible!

Did you get much financial advice?

Not really. I came from a background where money was never a topic of discussion. I don’t think my father has a pension plan. He was a jobbing musician, and you have to think about the times – this was the early 1980s.

I don’t think any footballer had an agent advising them to get a pension, or to save and invest.

Did this change when you went to Manchester United?

The kind of money players make now wasn’t around when I was playing, so I didn’t see the level of financial engagement, advice and so on that the players receive now. It was a different era.

Even the bonuses we got for certain results are nothing compared with what they get now.

My first contract was 100 times less than [Man Utd goalkeeper] David de Gea’s when he left Old Trafford [in 2023].

How much was money a driver for you?

I didn’t care about finances. For me it was all about playing. It was only later that I started to think about it and take action, getting people in to advise me, as I realised that my career was not going to last for ever [Peter retired in 2003 aged 39].

Coming from abroad I wasn’t aware of how powerful the Professional Footballers’ Association was in helping players get pensions and get fiscally straight.

Which win are you most proud of?

Getting to Manchester United in 1991 was a big win.

We didn’t win the league title that season, the last before the Premier League came in, but won the European Super Cup, so that was something.

Of course, my last season, when we won the treble [Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League], comes into that equation.

What has earned you the most money?

People talk about bonuses, but they weren’t great.

I can’t remember what we got for winning the treble, but it wasn’t much.

What has been your best money decision?

I have a couple of rental apartments in Copenhagen and my house in the city, which I share with Laura and the two boys.

Property prices have gone crazy in Denmark! One of the rental apartments has appreciated by 15 times what I paid for it.

And your worst?

Listening to a stock market shark who’d bought a green-energy windfarm. I’m not saying how much I lost, but it was a lot.

Where would not becoming a manager fit in, among the best or the worst decisions?

A fantastic decision! I’ve got coaching badges, but I have close friends going grey trying to get through to players 20 or more years younger than they are.

Right now, that’s not for me. I have great jobs in the media. I get to watch a lot of football, do studio work – it’s a pleasure.

What’s the most expensive thing you’ve bought for fun?

Cars. Expensive ones. Mercedes, SUVs, big-engine beasts. We have nice roads in Denmark, which makes a difference. I was driving in the UK recently and the state of the roads was horrific.

What’s your No 1 financial priority?

To continue to be careful with money because you never know what’s round the corner.  

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