How Champions League and World Cup star sparked a manhunt after retiring…but went on to have a very different career
A CHAMPIONS League Star, who sparked a manhunt after hanging up his boots, went on to have a very different career.
The Liverpool FC legend Steve Finnan was stunned when a campaign to find him went viral as he kept a low profile after retirement.
Finnan – who helped his team win UEFA Champions cup in 2005 – was an Anfield favourite, turning out for The Reds 217 times between 2003 and 2008.
After leaving Liverpool, Finnan played for Spanish club Espanyol before heading back to England for a season to play with Portsmouth where his final appearance in football was in the 2010 FA Cup final loss to Chelsea before retiring.
Finnan also went on to play 52 times for Ireland, scoring twice for his country and featured in all four of their World Cup games in 2002.
However, he was the subject of a mass campaign to locate him in 2015 after the organisers of the 10-year reunion of Rafa Benitez’ Champions League-winning team were unable to contact him.
The team behind the event in Istanbul, Turkey were struggling to track Finnan down, leading to the hashtag #FindSteveFinnan trending online.
Thankfully, the mystery was quickly solved, and the former full-back assured everyone he was ok in an interview with the Liverpool Echo.
Finnan said: “I can confirm that I’m safe and well.
“Someone forwarded the ECHO article on to me yesterday. I thought it was funny as I normally think I’m pretty easy to get hold of.
“There are people at the club who have got my number but obviously this isn’t a club event so there was a bit of a mix-up.
“The organisers of the Istanbul Reunion have now been in touch and apologised they weren’t able to contact me sooner.”
After retiring in 2010, Finnan moved on to a drastically different career path.
He ran Finnan Developments, a London-based property company, with his brother Sean.
Explaining his decision to move into property, he said: “I think one of the reasons why people think I’ve disappeared is because I’m not involved in football any more.
“I loved training and playing, and I was privileged to play for a great club like Liverpool and win some big trophies, but I never wanted to stay in football once I had retired.
“Being a coach or a pundit never interested me…I’ve never been one to crave attention and I like my life the way it is now.
“I have a property business with my brother Sean which we started 12 years ago. We started off with small refurbs and it has got bigger and bigger.”
He added that he also stays off social media as he doesn’t “feel the need to tell someone what I’ve just had for my breakfast”.
However, he admitted: “I still get recognised every so often in London.
“I come across a lot of people in the building trade and a fair few Liverpool fans who want to chat about my time there.”
But the London Property development business later collapsed – with Finnan reportedly tackling debts of over £3.6m.