Liverpool FC manager Brendan Rodgers in court divorce battle with estranged wife

Home Top

One percent living: Mansions, maids and custom-made movie theaters - a look at the lives of the super-rich around the globe
Protesters picket dentist's door after he admits paying $55,000 to kill Cecil - Africa's most famous lion - as PETA calls for him to be 'extradited, charged and hanged'
Oklahoma daycare center is shut down by cops after horror images emerged of sunburn suffered by children in their care
Tom Brady destroyed his cell phone and its 10,000 texts during Deflategate investigation, NFL reveals as it upholds his four-game ban
The car that carried mass shooter to murder: Police release photos of Trainwreck killer's car as they reveal he died of single shot to the head
Touching moment owner is reunited with the dog he was forced to give him up a year ago after losing his job - and the delighted pet has clearly not forgotten him either
EXCLUSIVE: A-listers to attend funeral service for Bobbi Kristina held at church in Alpharetta, Ga. - she will be buried beside her mom Whitney Houston in New Jersey
Listen to the horrifying moment an airline pilot with just THREE minutes of fuel left is told he can't land in North Dakota because the airport is 'closed'
America's youngest convicted murderer released from prison at age 29 after serving sixteen years for killing his father's girlfriend when he was just 12 years old
Nasa's 'impossible' fuel-free thrusters DO work (they just can't figure out WHY): Scientists confirm viability of super-fast engine that could get us to the moon in 4 hours and the nearest star in 100 years
Fifteen-year-old boy 'lured eight-year-old girl who lived next door to his apartment, killed her and dumped her body in a dumpster'
Special needs worker who was about to propose to his girlfriend is killed in late-night street shooting
Mets star Jenrry Mejia suspended for 80 games after failing drugs test
Twitter admits 'unacceptable' failure to attract new users as shares fall 7% - despite it beating revenue and earnings
Heartbreaking scenes as church bus crashes in Indiana leaving 6-year-old dead and 11 others injured
The ultimate pin-up: Never-before-seen stills from Marilyn Monroe's iconic nude calendar shoot - thought to have been lost forever
The second life of a Nazi war criminal: 'Butcher of Lyon' Klaus Barbie became a fixer for drug lords when he went on the run in South America
Fatal Virgin Galactic crash was caused by 'braking error': Co-pilot unlocked the craft's feathering system too early, report finds
EXCLUSIVE: Taylor Swift's outrage over 'harassment' by clothing firm boss who is demanding to see photos of her BOOBS and BUM in bitter lawsuit over her 'Lucky 13' brand
Man who ignited security scare at Dallas airport by going through security and getting on a plane with no ticket or ID was lovelorn and trying to stop his girlfriend from leaving
'Deal with it yourself': Firefighter hung up on desperate 911 caller as high school student, 17, died from a gunshot wound
Why it ALWAYS looks like there's an Uber nearby: Car firm accused of filling maps with 'ghost cars' to fool passengers
Conan O'Brien accused of plagiarism: Man files lawsuit claiming the late-night comedian ripped his jokes off Twitter
Open casket funeral held for black father fatally shot in the head by white Cincinnati campus police officer during traffic stop

Football boss left his wife of 14 years last year and couple are divorcing
The couple are understood to have agreed monthly maintenance payments
Case came before London court in dispute over estimated £10m fortune
Rodgers and his wife reportedly own more than 100 homes around UK

Published: 08:00 EST, 28 July 2015 | Updated: 20:31 EST, 28 July 2015

340

View
comments

Football boss Brendan Rodgers is involved in a multimillion-pound divorce row over a property empire that consists of 102 houses, it emerged yesterday.

The 42-year-old and his estranged wife Susan are to have his buy-to-let portfolio valued as part of the financial settlement.

Mrs Rodgers, 40, was with her husband for more than 20 years and married for 13 years before the couple, who have two children, separated last year.

Brendan Rodgers with his estranged wife Susan in 2013, left, and with girlfriend Charlotte Searle, right, in May

Rodgers, the Liverpool manager, is now in a relationship with the Premier League club’s former travel co-ordinator Charlotte Searle, 31. On Monday, he and his wife were in court to hear their legal teams tell a judge they were involved in a ‘financial dispute resolution’.

Rodgers earns around £5million a year as Liverpool’s boss, including bonuses – and could have earned more than £20million by the time his current contract with the club expires in 2018. The former Watford, Reading and Swansea manager has also built a massive rental property empire – with houses from South Shields, in Tyne and Wear, to Reading – with his business partner Judith O’Hagan.

The court heard that each of their 102 properties would have to be valued – at an estimated cost of some £35,000 – before lawyers can decide how monies can be shared by the couple.

According to legal sources, Mrs Rodgers is likely to seek half of her former husband’s wealth.

The tangled love life of the Premier League boss surfaced two years ago when it was reported he had ‘befriended’ Miss Searle.

Mrs Rodgers, 40, was with her husband for more than 20 years before the couple, pictured, separated last year

She was in the process of divorcing her husband, Steven Hind, and neighbours told how they would often see Rodgers parking his Porsche near the rented home she shared with her then 15-month-old daughter. Mr Hind was later placed under a restraining order for pestering her with text messages about Rodgers. One read: ‘I watched him leave your house on our wedding anniversary, playing happy families.’

At the time, Rodgers was still living at home with his wife at their home in Formby, Merseyside, and he categorically denied he was in a relationship with Miss Searle.

But in May last year Rodgers moved into a rented £1.5million home and his wife consulted lawyers. Weeks later Rodgers – who is originally from Carnlough, County Antrim – was seen at an awards function being embraced by Miss Searle. The pair have since been regularly photographed together and pictured on holidays.

The couple, pictured in 2013, were in a court in London this week as they decide how to divide their assets

There were claims that with a younger woman in his life Rodgers had slimmed down and he appeared to have had his teeth whitened.

Three months ago Mrs Rodgers went before a family court in London asking for a ruling on the amount of maintenance she should receive from her ex-husband. Catherine Thomas, her lawyer, said: ‘Susan is saddened that after a relationship spanning 24 years she had to go to court to secure sufficient maintenance from her husband.’

Yesterday it emerged that one of the properties owned by Rodgers and O’Hagan is a two-bedroom terraced house in Accrington, Lancashire, that was subject to an enforcement notice by the local council earlier this year. The property was described as a ‘slum’ that had been left to ‘rot’.

It emerged that Rodgers and O’Hagan, 31, had failed to comply with Hyndburn Council’s demands to carry out repairs on the house they bought for £69,950 in 2007. It led to the pair being convicted in January of failing to comply with the enforcement notice. They were fined £400 with £375 costs.

Apart from his rental empire Rodgers still owns a home in Berkshire where he lived when he was Reading manager and which was bought in 2006 for £590,000. The property is now said to be worth in excess of £850,000.