A Liverpool football fan has said he wants to invest in property and follow in the footsteps of Reds legend Robbie Fowler after winning more than £400,000 in an odds-defying bet on the horses.
Self-employed heating engineer Neil Maher, from Litherland, won a massive £417,331 on a 60,000/1 bet with four winners from his £5 each-way Lucky 15 bet on the horses earlier this month.
In an interview with BetFred, Neil, who is also the owner and head coach at Aintree Amateur Boxing Club, said spent half an hour picking horses based on a number of factors, including course price, their inclusion towards the bottom of the handicap, and their suitability to the soft or heavy going. And his strategy seems to have paid dividends, with wins throughout the day for Veux Lion Rouge (14/1), Talking About You (16/1), Beau Boy (22/1), and Benson (10/1).
Lucky 15 accumulator bets can produce some huge wins due to how unlikely it is for someone to correctly determine so many results accurately. And after finding some of the best odds available and coming home trumps, Neil can now treat his wife the wedding she has always dreamed about.
Neil and his partner Leanne have been together for 20 years and had already planned to get married in July year, but after Neil’s success at the bookies their plans have changed completely. The winner says he already plans to get Leanne “a much more expensive ring” but the pair also now plan to have their honeymoon in Cuba and will bring their two teenage sons along for the trip of a lifetime.
A life-long Liverpool fan, Neil said “I’d love to be able to get a season ticket at Liverpool, or even two, but it doesn’t matter how much money you’ve got because there is such a long waiting list.”
However, he does not plan to put the money away for a rainy day saying “As well as the special honeymoon, I’m going to invest in some property, probably buy to rent or maybe a self-build…I doubt even now I can get anything like as many houses as Robbie Fowler!”
Most people know Robbie as a Liverpool and England striker, who scored 163 Premier League goals and made 39 assists throughout his career. Non-Liverpool fans may remember him as the holder of the record for the fastest hat-trick in Premier League history, after he scored three goals in just 4 minutes and 33 seconds against Arsenal back in 1994 – a record that stood until Sadio Mane broke it in 2015.
However, outside of his nearly three-decade football career Fowler has also quietly become one of the 1,000 wealthiest people in the UK by 2005 thanks to his clever investments in property. His shift from football to property once led Manchester City fans to chant “We all live in a Robbie Fowler house” to the tune of The Beatles’ hit Yellow Submarine during his time playing for the club.
Today, the football star reportedly has over 80 properties within his portfolio, runs an academy to teach others how he invested his fortune, and has a net worth of over 30 million – you can see why Neil would look up to him as a success. However, even Fowler has made some mistakes in his investments, telling The Guardian in 2015 how he “bought a place just outside Cardiff at what I thought was a good price. But when I tried to sell, I got £200,000 less than what I bought it for”.
Whilst growing his property portfolio, Fowler has also invested in a football academy for Merseyside teenagers, the Fowler Education and Football Academy (FEFA), which offers further education in multiple areas of sports-based careers, with a particular focus on the beautiful game. And the academy has gone from strength to strength in recent years, improving the lives of many teenagers and making a positive impact on the local community.
In another side to his investments that would also likely find support from the Lucky 15 winner Neil, Fowler also invests in multiple racehorses through his ‘Macca and Growler partnership‘ with former Liverpool teammate Steve McManaman. After success on the pitch, in business, and at the races, it is easy to see why any winner would look up to Robbie Fowler.
