A FOOTBALL star paid a struggling ex-girlfriend £8-a-month maintenance payments — leaving her to raise their son on Pot Noodles.
The ex-player, a regular on TV, radio and computer games, hid his assets, she alleges, to make sure he was adjudged to qualify for nil rate child support.
She claims the player, who spent part of his more than 20-year career in the Championship, owes hundreds of thousands for the upkeep of their boy, now 14.
She says records show he earns less than £7 a week.
The girlfriend said: “My son has had to eat £1.80 packet noodles for dinner on really hard days. He once asked me for an ice cream, I couldn’t afford it. It broke my heart.
“He’s had to wear clothes that are too small. He wanted to go to boxing and basketball but I can’t afford the fees. Anything I earn goes towards him and my house.”
The couple dated for two years before she became pregnant.
She said: “The mask fell. He said, ‘You can’t be pregnant, I’m married’. I was stunned.”
She says she foolishly accepted the ex-player’s offer of £10,000 not to take their finance row to a tribunal.
She added: “But I expected the basic child maintenance to continue, which to my surprise was abruptly stopped.
“Officials tell me their records show he is earning less than £7 a week, so he can send what he wants.
“He comes across as a jovial guy. His hypocrisy is jaw-dropping.”
