Watching the current Euro 2024 games, the viewing public sees some of the world’s best footballers on one of the biggest international stages.
Behind many of these top-tier players and their lives of celebrity and enormous wealth, there are invisible hands carefully guiding their high-profile transfers, endorsement deals and lucrative contracts toward wealthy and secure lifestyles. Providing sound financial advice is the essential currency offered by Patrick Foley and his company, Sonar.
The firm deals with a broad range of services to cover the many needs of young footballers as they seek to maximise their earning power in what are often short sporting careers. Providing assistance to clients in property purchases, investment choices and savings are amongst the key financial planning areas helping players prepare for when the relatively brief window of professional football comes to an end.
“One of the most crucial aspects to understand about professional football is the brevity of a player’s career,” he explains.
During this decade of maximum earning power, the temptation for young players to engage in excessive lifestyle splurges is a constant threat, needing a firm and understanding guiding hand to ensure economic security when the final sporting whistle blows. “Footballers experience rapid increases in income as they climb the ranks or sign more substantial contracts. This can lead to an inflated lifestyle, where expenses grow to match, or even exceed, their earnings.”
Enticed by financial opportunities outside of the sport, players often invest in ventures without suitable research resulting in significant financial losses. Football careers may offer the classic ‘rags to riches’ dream, but one that can transform into a ‘riches to rags’ disaster without proper retirement planning and wealth protection.
Mr Foley says: “The pressure on these players has never been greater, as have the figures involved. Accordingly, the need for proper financial advice has never been greater, particularly in the professional football market which I operate in.
Given that many of these 18-year-old prodigies often come from humble beginnings, the sudden appearance of great wealth can be a difficult transition.
Originally from Waterville in Kerry, Patrick is a graduate of the Business Information Systems degree at UCC, and he believes its six-month internship supported him for the buzz of the commercial world. He also attained a Master of Science Financial Services from UL.
Beginning his financial career in 2009, he was selected as one of just three individuals from over 900 applicants to join the NatWest Private Banking graduate programme. From there he was headhunted to Coutts Bank, spending seven years working with the sports team responsible for managing the bank’s professional football clients.
In 2016, he became an independent financial adviser to increase his offering to clients, including unrestricted advice across the financial spectrum from mortgage to investments and protection. Backed by his expertise accumulated in the general footballing sphere, in 2019 he became a strategy advisor to StatSports, the world leader in wearable sports technology.
Listing his favourite aspects of a demanding job, he points to a wide arc of clients and “the ability to affect positive change in a client’s attitude to money”. One of his proudest moments as a financial advisor came from working with a talented young player whose profligate spending habits were affecting his performance on the pitch.
Sonar takes on a limited number of clients each year, working with established players in addition to emerging football talent. “We operate on a ‘less is more’ basis in terms of numbers, with our services and interactions tailored to each client.”
“We typically start working with footballers from age 18, advising from their first professional contract to the end of their playing career and beyond. We work with footballers all over the UK and those who have moved to Europe, assisting in the process of moving clubs to make the transition as easy as possible.”
Among the Sonar client roster is John Egan, Sheffield United and Republic of Ireland player. “I did not have a financial advisor before Patrick, and he has been a great help in taking care of things away from football and making sure I have a plan for when my football career is over. It is great to have my mind at ease and be able to focus on football.”
Former Arsenal player, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, has similarly benefited from Sonar’s off-pitch guidance: “Patrick is good sounding board for me, and I have great peace of mind with him as my financial adviser.”
Having been included in the VouchedFor Top Rated Financial Adviser Guide for the past three years running, Sonar continues to plot the financial path of its clients with another Premier League season just around the corner. Trust remains a key element in the player-advisor relationship, a place where Sonar’s tight client listing benefits from a personal ‘hands on’ working ethos.
“We pride ourselves in having great connections with our clients, we are not just someone who shows up once a year for the annual review of investments. We are speaking to clients on a weekly basis, always building deeper relationships and are frequently invited to their weddings and other important events in their lives.”
The old adage that ‘word of mouth is the best advertisement’ applies significantly in the ongoing success of Sonar: “We don’t advertise anywhere — our best advertisement is doing a great job for clients, and that applies from club level to international status.”