Dave Whelan would probably be an even richer man if it wasn't for his passionate love of soccer. He started out life as a soccer player, in the 1950s and 1960s, enjoying a degree of success and famously breaking his leg during the 1960 FA Cup Final. He used the money he earned wisely and started a chain of supermarkets called Whelan's Discount Stores and retired early from playing to concentrate on developing these.
By the mid-1990s he was the chairman of a very successful chain of sports stores in Britain, but the soccer bug bit him, and he purchased Wigan Athletic Football Club, who at the time were playing in the lower leagues of English football. Whelan invested heavily in new players, better facilities and a new stadium, and his input was rewarded when Wigan were promoted up through the rankings, eventually reaching the lucrative English Premier League in 2005.