FINANCE
Money
Matters
Former
Middlesbrough
footballer Jim Platt
celebrates being
elected a councillor
in Middlesbrough.
Money! Money! Money! In
each issue of Tees Life, we
ask a prominent Teessider
about their thoughts on
finance
This time, we talk to former
Middlesbrough FC goalkeeper Jim
Platt, who is starting a new era in
his life at the age of 67 after being
elected independent councillor
for the Kader ward in Acklam,
Middlesbrough.
Does money make you happy?
I wouldn’t say it makes you happy – but it
helps! I do believe you can have nothing and
still be happy but when you’re broke it’s hard.
Unlike modern footballers, I didn’t earn big
wages when I was a player. If they’re careful
with their money, nowadays top professional
footballers will never have to work again,
but my biggest wage while playing for
Middlesbrough was £350 a week in 1982. We
didn’t have a second car because we couldn’t
afford one.
What was your first paid job?
I was an amateur footballer with Ballymena
in Ireland, so my first paid job was when I
signed for Middlesbrough when I was 18.
I was on £30 a week, with an extra £15 if I
played in the first team and I think it was £10
a point. It was a good wage for my age – but I
wasn’t rich like top teenage footballers now. I
lived in a hostel on the corner of Kensington
Road, opposite Ayresome Park, with all the
apprentices, before getting digs with a family
at the back of the old maternity hospital near
Albert Park.
What’s your best financial tip?
Spend it and enjoy yourself - but always put
some by for a rainy day.
With football legend George Best at Jim’s
Middlesbrough testimonial match in 1982.
Are you a saver or a spender?
A spender! That’s an easy one.
What’s the biggest drain on your
resources?
Holidays. One of our sons, Aaron, lives in
Australia, so we’ve been there eight or nine
times in the last 10 years. He lives in Perth
now but originally lived in Sydney. We
normally visit another part of Australia
while we’re there, and went over to New
Zealand one time too. The way of life over
there is just so much more laid back than
it is here. There’s less traffic and so much
space. We love it!
What’s been your biggest financial
mistake?
Buying an apartment in Thornaby in
2008 – just before the financial crash. It
was meant to be an investment for our
retirement but it hasn’t worked out that
way. We’ve been lucky enough to have
been able to rent it but we still have a
mortgage on it that we didn’t expect to
have. It has been a poor investment.
“I do believe you
can have nothing
and still be happy
but when you’re
broke it’s hard.”
What’s been your best investment?
Definitely a Prontaprint franchise. We were
the first to set one up in Belfast when I
moved back to Ireland for a few years after
leaving Middlesbrough towards the end of
my playing career. With the money we made
from selling the franchise we were able to
put down a hefty deposit on a house over
there.
Apart from that, I have to say my wife,
Sharon. We are a partnership. We’ve bought
and sold plenty of houses and always
made money on them. Before we met I
lived in Acklam but we’ve lived in Acklam,
Nunthorpe, Ingleby Barwick and Wynyard,
along with our time back in Ballymena in
Ireland. Now we’re back in Acklam, where
I’ve been elected as a councillor.
tees-life.co.uk
47