Michael McIndoe scandal: Player lifts lid on ex-Wolves player's controversial fund

David McDermott, who made his debut for Walsall at just 16, now plays for Hednesford Town in the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League.

He lost £140,000 along with friends and family in the fund run by the former Molineux midfielder.

Now 28, he says it has taken him nearly six years to recover and get his life back on track since the scheme suddenly stopped in 2011 and his playing career nose-dived.

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In the end, he suffered badly after stress brought on a stomach complaint.

He and other young footballers from clubs across the country were first introduced to the Scottish midfielder at lavish beach parties in Marbella around 2010.

"We were 21 and we looked up to him," said Stourbridge-born McDermott.

"He did not drink, he did not do drugs, he had a successful career and was making all this money, flying us over, and having women around us all the time.

"We took his word as gospel."

It was in Marbella they were introduced to an investment fund headed by McIndoe.

Dozens of professional footballers – at least five from Wolves – are understood to have lost millions of pounds in the scheme that promised a 20 per cent return on investments after a month.

But McDermott is the only one who will talk publicly about it.

"He was networking." he said. "People saw the money and they were like 'flipping heck let's get involved'. Some people had spare cash and thought they would put the money in for two or three months and take it back out. It was everyone, footballers, businessmen. I would get approached because football is a small community and word gets around."

McDermott, family members and friends put their savings into the scheme while others took out bank loans. "When I came back from Marbella and four or five months later he phoned up one day and said 'they've stopped it and pulled the plug on it'. My response was as long as I got my money back. We trusted him at that point."

But McDermott, who at the time was playing for York City after a spell at Kidderminster Harriers in the Conference, would lose more than his money.

He became ill with a stress-related stomach illness and his playing days looked to be over. He had loan spells at Halesowen Town and turned out for Rushall Olympic, but had been working outside of football before a spell at Redditch United led to him being signed by the Pitmen earlier this month. He made a dream start scoring on his debut in a 2-0 win away to Workington. "It has taken me until now, nearly six years on, to rebuild my life." he said.

"A lot of the lads it has been the same to pay it off. It has consumed their lives. A lot of the lads just wrote their money off.

"A lot of people are scared and embarrassed to come forward.

"The biggest thing is to be associated with what went on. I don't think people need to be scared.

"If someone offers you an investment and your friends are involved you have a chance you are going to take it. You can change as a person. Seeing all that money at just 21 it is hard not to." McIndoe was made bankrupt in October 2014 and told a court hearing that he was a 'professional gambler' and that he did not know how much he had lost by gambling.

Court documents showed he owed 17 men, mostly footballers, in the region of £3.5 million.

Scotland Yard's Falcon fraud squad has launched an investigation into the scheme.

There is no suggestion that those who put money into the scheme were anything other than genuine investors.

McIndoe was unavailable for comment and is believed to be living abroad.