Express & Star

REVEALED: Party's over for playboy former Wolves star Michael McIndoe

It was the playboy lifestyle that the dreams of young men are made of – sun, sea, Champagne, and a bevy of beautiful women.

Published

This is the inside story of Michael McIndoe and the millions of pounds lost in a cash scheme that is believed to have cost up to 100 professional footballers around £30 million.

Today, the Express & Star lifts the lid on how the former Wolves winger's teammates and fellow players handed over thousands of pounds while living the high life.

David McDermott, who along with friends and family, lost £140,000, told how the lives of dozens of footballers, celebrities and businessmen were affected.

On a single day, the winger spent an extraordinary 38,778 euros at the Ocean Club in Marbella – renowned for its Champagne 'spray' parties.

The receipt shows how thousands was racked up on Cristal magnums and endless bottles of Champagne all to impress his entourage and to encourage new investors into his scheme.

The bill includes 20,000 euros spent on four boxes of Champagne, Cristal magnums at 995 euros each, and a 295 euro bottle of Dom Perignon.

A single tuna roll even cost 24 euros and 147 euros was spent on pizza. The service charge came to 3,525 euros.

Now aged 27, Mr McDermott played for Walsall and Kidderminster Harriers in the lower leagues as well as Halesowen Town and Stourbridge before injury cut short his career.

He was playing for York City when he was introduced to former Wolves player McIndoe through a friend.

He was flown out to a lavish holiday in a luxury Marbella resort to party with models brought in from across the world.

He said: "The first year he took me and a friend to Marbella, he was spending large amounts of money and I didn't really know what was going on.

"When we arrived back, he was playing for Coventry and a lot of players were making money from him.

"We then went out to Marbella the next year and it was crazy. He was spending £15,000 or £20,000 a day.

"We were out there for a month and he was flying models out to party with us. One day he bought a round that cost £50,000.

"I was thinking that this was ridiculous money even for a professional footballer. He was an accomplished player who we looked up to."

A receipt from the Ocean Club in Marbella shows a single bill totalling 38,778 euros which includes forty bottles of champagne costing 20,000 euros. A service charge of 3,525 euros was also paid.

McIndoe told people he had an investment scheme that paid 20 per cent interest per month on investments.

Those who invested said he never revealed what he invested in but they believed it was in gold, stocks and London property.

McIndoe was said to have flown in models to join his party break with friends

News of the scheme spread throughout the football world from the Premier League to the Conference.

It finally crumbled in late 2011, though he was still insisting a year ago that a private members nightclub, Stamp, at 78 Oxford Street would allow him to repay people.

The company behind the club, Lafayette Restaurants Limited entered liquidation in January this year.

McIndoe was appointed a director in the company in August 2011 but his position was terminated in May last year.

The club's website, which is still active, includes a video that shows a £1.5m Bugatti Veyron driving around Piccadilly Circus to a soundtrack of dance music on its way to the venue.

And while the eye-popping figures owed by McIndoe or details of his lavish lifestyle are hard to fathom, Wolves fans may express little surprise at the manner in which McIndoe treated people who called him their friend.

McIndoe was at Molineux for just one season but his acrimonious departure left a bitter taste. He took a bizarre and unnecessary swipe at Wolves upon leaving for Bristol City in a statement full of contradictions.

McIndoe arrogantly claimed to have played a big part in Wolves success of reaching the play-offs that season, but complained that he hadn't seen enough of the ball and that promoted League One side City played better football.

Most pointedly he hinted that City were a bigger club than Wolves – a cardinal sin in the eye of any diehard fan – and fans were gleeful when McIndoe failed to ever hit the big time, ending his career at Coventry City and MK Dons.

A cheap laugh at a vain footballer is one thing, but what Wolves supporters won't be laughing at is the prospect that their club's disastrous relegation from the Premier League in 2012 may have been partly influenced by McIndoe.

With 'most' of the squad that season believed to be involved in the scheme, it was sure to have had an impact on team morale. A source has told the Express & Star that players clubbed together, but that when they stopped getting money back from McIndoe it created 'panic'. Wolves won just five matches that season, with fans unable to comprehend why an expensively-assembled squad failed so hopelessly to even compete, finishing a mammoth 12 points below the safety line.

The club's phone number is out of service. It is described on the website as: "An exclusive private members nightclub where guests enjoy a holistic entertainment experience within an exquisite and dynamic space in the heart of London, as well as at a number of International events across the globe.

"Stamp is a lifestyle, a brand and a social place like no other which caters for its members on a personal level to create ultimate satisfaction."

But the club was forced to close almost as soon as it opened at the start of 2014.

The Express & Star revealed in February that at least six serving and former Wolves players invested money in the scheme, notably from the squad relegated from the Premier League in 2012.

Scotland Yard's Falcon fraud squad has launched an investigation. Mr McDermott said: "He was very good and made you feel like one of his best friends. As young men in our early 20s we thought we were living the dream. I was playing for York at the time so the money was obviously nothing like I was experiencing.

"Because he was treating us to this incredible life, he made us feel like we owed him something.

"So I gave him some money to invest, as did my friend who took out a loan, and my dad invested some money too.

"We saw that others were getting their money back and we took his word for gospel.

"We were then suddenly told that the payments would stop. Initially me and a few others stood by him.

"But then he said everything was ok because he was running a nightclub in Oxford Street that would make millions.

"I have worked in nightclubs and I know you cannot make the sort of money he was talking about so I had a falling out with him while others still stood by him.

"Then the nightclub closed and that is when people realised they were not going to see their money back.

"A lot of players won't go public because they fear it will ruin their careers. Others investing were celebrities and business people. It is embarrassing and not many want to talk about it.

"It did not matter whether you were playing in the Conference or the Premier League – everyone knew of this scheme."

Party palace – the luxury villa in Marbella that was rented by McIndoe
Matt Murray is said to be owed £1.6 million
Former striker Freddy Eastwood
Andy Keogh is said to be owed £67k
Wolves goalkeeper Carl Ikeme
Ex-Wolves striker Sylvan Ebanks-Blake

McIndoe, 35, told a bankruptcy hearing at the Royal Courts Of Justice last week that he was a 'professional gambler' and that he did not know how much he had lost by gambling.

His William Hill gambling records seen by the Express & Star shows almost £400,000 staked on matches, including Wolves and Albion games. He was made bankrupt in October.

In documents seen by the Express & Star, five players associated with Wolves – Matt Murray, Carl Ikeme, Freddy Eastwood, Andy Keogh, and a former youth player – are on a list of creditors.

Those five alone are owed £2.6m. Mr Murray is owed £1.6m of that.

In total, 17 men are named as 'potential creditors' owed a total of £3.5m.

They include Leeds-based football agent Hayden Evans, who used to represent tragic Gary Speed, and who is said to be owed £258,000,

Barnsley manager Lee Johnson, a former close friend of McIndoe and teammate at Yeovil Town and Bristol City, is owed £48,000.

Former Albion and Birmingham City winger Lloyd Dyer is owed £150,000, ex-Coventry and Newcastle striker Leon Best is owed £127,000, and former Blues' midfielder Gary McSheffrey is also owed £127,000.

Former Coventry trio David Bell, Isaac Osbourne, and Roy O'Donovan are said to be owed £35,000, £55,000, and £60,000 respectively.

Irish defender Alan Sheehan is owed £85,000 and ex-MK Dons forward, now at Brighton and Hove Albion, Sam Baldock is owed £90,000.

The document, written by McIndoe describes the amounts as 'loans' and that 'a lot' of the amount owed is interest.

Former Wolves' strikers Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and Robbie Keane are also understood to have been affected.

Mr McDermott added: "What I don't like is him describing himself as a professional gambler. We invested our money in what was going to be guaranteed returns – not to gamble.

"He made me feel like one of his closest friends but he didn't care about me and the others – he cut us off straight away. The only person he cares about is himself."

A former Wolves player, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: "He was the Mr Big in Marbella, buying loads of Champagne and girls all over the place.

"He even had a bodyguard. He was spending money like you've never seen before. He had the gift of the gab but was very cagey about the scheme.

"People were convinced when they saw him paying out but then he suddenly closed the scheme down. He kept telling me to wait and that I would be a wealthy man."

Mr McDermott, who grew up in Stourbridge, now works for a car dealership and lives in Hagley.

But he says he is now moving on from the affair and was glad it had not happened in later life when he may have had more to lose.

He said: "I have no anger now. In life things happen and you learn from it.

"I'm just glad that I was not in my 40s, married with kids and had lost my savings.

"Some of them must have been left in ruins."

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: "In February an allegation of fraud was made to Westminster CID.

"Further allegations were reported. An investigation has now been launched."

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.