Sports
How Premier League footballers have turned two Surrey villages into ‘Beverly Hills of Britain’
Welcome to the ‘Beverly Hills of Britain’, where the only thing missing is sunshine.
There are luxury cars, fancy restaurants, gated mansions and enough high-level professional footballers to create the United Kingdom’s most dominant five-a-side league.
‘Elmbridge Borough Council welcomes you to Cobham’, the sign reads as you enter the village made famous by Chelsea Football Club, whose training ground named after this place is a four-minute drive from its high street (and actually in nearby Stoke d’Abernon).
Chelsea moved to Cobham, part of London’s southern commuter belt, 19 years ago from Harlington, near Heathrow Airport on the western outskirts of the city. Since then, the village itself and surrounding areas, including Oxshott, have become home to footballers past and present, the streets — many of them private roads — lined by multi-million-pound mansions hidden behind security gates.
Cobham and the surrounding area have become home to a host of Premier League players (Dan Sheldon/The Athletic)
Over the past two decades, residents have become accustomed to seeing Premier League footballers wandering down the high street (Belgium international Eden Hazard was a regular in the village’s high-end Waitrose supermarket during his 2012-19 spell at Stamford Bridge), stopping for a coffee or enjoying a meal in one of the restaurants.
Even on the gloomy September morning when The Athletic visits, an array of fancy cars — Land Rover Defenders dominate — are passing through or pulling over to park outside one of the local stores.
Just over 20 miles south-west from central London, but away from the glare living in the UK capital would bring, Cobham and Oxshott are two of the most desirable — and expensive — locations in the country, where houses regularly sell for millions of pounds.
On any given day, you could bump into John Terry, the former Chelsea and England captain, or Sir Andy Murray, the British men’s tennis player who retired from that sport after the recent Olympics in Paris.
It is the south of England’s answer to the north’s ‘Golden Triangle’ of villages — Hale, Alderley Edge and Wilmslow — which is home to many Manchester City and Manchester United footballers.
GO DEEPER
Welcome to the ‘goldplated’ villages the Premier League elite call home
(Dan Sheldon/The Athletic)
Nicknamed the ‘Beverly Hills of Britain’ due to the number of celebrities who now call it home, this area has long been popular among London-based stockbrokers and hedge-fund managers. There are elite private schools, fancy hair salons, Pilates studios and yoga classes at the disposal of players and their families.
Trevor Kearney, founder of property company The Private Office Real Estate, sums up what life is like as a Premier League footballer based around here: “If you go to Grappelli on a Saturday night then, no matter who you are, there is always someone more famous than you in the room.”
Grappelli, an Italian restaurant only a couple of hundred yards away from The Ivy Cobham Garden, is frequently visited by footballers and, alongside its pasta dishes, is known for its ebullient front-of-house manager, Eddy, who has become a friend to many of them.
(Dan Sheldon/The Athletic)
During Eddy’s chat with The Athletic over coffee, several passers-by stop to say hello, while Chelsea player Cesare Casadei parks his Mercedes on the other side of the road before disappearing into a shop. Eddy says Casadei, a 21-year-old midfielder, is a “good guy”.
“Most of the footballers that come here are Chelsea players,” Eddy says. “Lots of old players still live in the area, so we have Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Ashley Cole… they are regulars and good friends with the owner.
“We have had John Terry, Ashley Cole, Noni Madueke, (Marc) Cucurella, Roberto Di Matteo, Gianfranco Zola, Andriy Shevchenko, Mauricio Pochettino, Joao Felix, Robert Sanchez… I don’t watch football, but I started following it because I needed to know who they are!”
During our conversation, Ryan Bertrand, the former Chelsea and England defender, pulls up in his car down the road. Yes, Eddy knows him, too. But with the most prominent players away on international duty at the moment, this is a relatively quiet morning in Cobham.
On the day The Athletic visited, Ahmed Alsanawi, a barber with 1.2 million Instagram followers whose social media posts show him cutting the hair of Hazard, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and Reece James, among others, turned up in his yellow Lamborghini Urus.
“It’s trendy, it’s cool, but it has all the right fundamentals of what makes up a great community and environment,” Kearney says of the area. “When Chelsea arrived at Cobham, there was a mandate that the players need to live in a two-and-a-half-mile radius of the training ground, so that meant Cobham and Oxshott has seen a new breed and type of buyer.
“All of a sudden, you had this new breed of person, wealth and fame injected into it. It transformed it, but it was already headed in that direction.
“Chelsea didn’t change the market, they just turbo-fuelled it.”
Kearney estimates that around 100 footballers are living in this part of the county of Surrey, including the towns of Weybridge and Esher a few miles to the north. Many of them, particularly those of a Chelsea persuasion, reside near Cobham, though.
A typical house in the area — where gated mansions dominate (Dan Sheldon/The Athletic)
“Chelsea moved here and then other players at different clubs, let’s say (their west London neighbours) Fulham, who didn’t want to be in central London, saw everyone was in Oxshott or Cobham and moved there instead,” Kearney says. “It’s the same at (south Londoners) Crystal Palace.
“It became the south’s hub for players. If you were at a north London club, you would stay relatively north. But if you lived more towards the south, then you were coming to Cobham or Oxshott.
“Even if you were further south, let’s say at Bournemouth (on the south coast), you would live in Cobham or Oxshott and commute. I had two friends playing for Stoke City (in the Midlands, north of Birmingham) who lived in Oxshott and got the train there because the family didn’t want to move as it was the perfect area for them.
“That shows the allure and pull of the area.”
It became common for the players from other top clubs in London, such as Palace, to make Oxshott their home and they would frequently travel to the training ground together. A Palace contingent of Joel Ward, Gary Cahill, Martin Kelly and Scott Dann, for example, used to link up in the mornings, collecting team-mate Jason Puncheon at the nearby Reigate junction of London’s orbital M25 motorway along the way.
According to data from Foxtons, a UK-based estate agency, the average price of a house in Cobham has doubled since Chelsea made this area their home in 2005. On average, houses were selling for just over £600,000 then, compared to more than £1.2million in 2024. The gated enclaves lining the private roads and populated by footballers are selling for much more than that latter figure.
Including Oxshott, Kearney estimates that footballers are spending around “£4m to £7m” on a house. Houses in Oxshott, though, are, on average, more expensive than those in Cobham, which is under four miles away.
“What Oxshott has is the Crown Estate,” Kearney explains. “The Crown Estate was once Crown land (property of the Royal family) and has an incredibly high-end housing estate with values from £3m to £20m. They are gated enclaves, safe environments, roads that were run by management companies and it is a super-smart setup.
“Oxshott was in that radius and it has an incredible school called Danes Hill. People were training in Cobham and a couple of minutes up the road is an amazing place to live, with knockout houses and a brilliant school, and it works for them.
“Cobham has a few of those estates, too, but not as big or as powerful as the Crown Estate. Oxshott has a little high street, but it hasn’t got an Ivy or a Grappelli’s. People who live in Oxshott would visit Cobham for the coffee spots, hair salons and restaurants.”
The drive of the Crown Estate (Dan Sheldon/The Athletic)
In 2022, Didier Drogba, the Ivory Coast international striker who left Chelsea in 2015 to play for Montreal in MLS, put his six-bedroom house on the Crown Estate up for sale for £6.25million, according to the UK’s Daily Mail. In 2014, the same newspaper also reported Terry sold two Oxshott properties for a combined £21.5m.
Players who choose to rent instead of buying, especially if they are arriving from a different country and are reluctant to commit to spending millions on a house, are spending anywhere from £15,000 to £30,000 a month. “The rental market is interesting because there isn’t enough good enough stock to come and rent,” Kearney says. “If I had a house that someone could move into today, it would go instantly.”
When it comes to a player getting a mortgage, banks will consider their career and trajectory before deciding on the terms of a deal.
Kearney notes how a lot of them can “very easily get high-leverage” mortgages, sometimes “up to 100 per cent”. The majority of these are spread over the length of the individual’s club contract, although exceptions can be made if a player is more established or quite clearly on their way to becoming a superstar.
Aside from a modern exterior and interior, along with a big enough garden to install a five-a-side pitch — Kearney says this is a more common request than you may think — the most important thing house-hunting footballers are looking for is safety and security.
The houses are imposing and worth millions (Dan Sheldon/The Athletic)
Footballers are often deemed easy targets by criminals who will know when a player is likely to be at training or playing in a match, maybe at the other end of the country or possibly overseas, due to their club’s schedule and fixture list.
In recent years, players’ houses have been targeted, including in Oxshott.
Chelsea and England forward Raheem Sterling’s home was broken into in December 2022, leading to him flying back from the World Cup in Qatar.
Four men were jailed in July 2017 after targeting Terry’s home in Oxshott in February 2017, as reported by the BBC, with the former Chelsea defender being told by Judge Susan Tapping in court that it “might have been a mistake to post a family photograph on social media to show that he was away on holiday”.
During that raid, the convicted burglars stole more than £220,000 of jewellery and designer handbags worth £126,000. “His home was deliberately targeted and the master bedroom suite was ransacked,” Judge Tapping said.
Sterling returned home from the World Cup in Qatar after his Surrey home was broken into (Julian Finney/Getty Images)
According to police.uk data, from October 2021 to the end of June 2024, 193 burglary offences were committed in Cobham and Oxshott, with the most prevalent crimes being violence and sexual offences (1,075) during the same period.
“Safety and security is paramount,” Kearney says. “I’ve also got a company that is a security service around players and that works phenomenally well. If you are buying a new house, they go in and make sure the basics are right, such as intercoms, CCTV, and everything like that, but also layering additional security depending on your needs.”
Safe rooms, panic buttons and patrol dogs have become commonplace. “They want to live really normal, unaffected lives, with the best technology and security systems in their house,” Kearney says.
Given the focus and attention placed on footballers, especially those playing at the highest level, living an ‘unaffected life’ almost seems implausible. But in Cobham, Oxshott and the wider Surrey area, that is something they, within reason, have been able to do. Their fellow local residents have become used to seeing them on a daily basis, whether that is Terry, who played 78 times for England, or the lesser-known ones such as Casadei.
As in Beverly Hills, the Los Angeles district that is home to actors, singers and other A-list celebrities, a Premier League footballer can turn up to a supermarket or restaurant in Cobham and, like Kearney says above, there is a good chance they will not be the most famous person there.
(Top photos: Daniel Sheldon/The Athletic; design: Eamonn Dalton for The Athletic)
There was only one way to end the first full Sunday of NFL games – overtime.
The Detroit Lions got the season started off right with a 26-20 win over the Los Angeles Rams in a thrilling finish.
Detroit Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams (9) celebrates his 52-yard touchdown reception with quarterback Jared Goff (16) during the second half of an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Rams in Detroit, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/David Dermer)
Detroit got the ball first in the extra period and didn’t allow Los Angeles to have an offensive play. Two run plays set the tone for the drive. Khalif Raymond picked up a first down on the first jet sweep carry. Then, David Montgomery took the ball 21 yards and into Rams territory.
Jared Goff then threw a pass to Jahmyr Gibbs for a 10-yaad gain. At this point, the Lions could smell the end zone.
Montgomery had a few more carries and eventually found the end zone for the score. He finished with 91 rushing yards. Gibbs added 40 yards on the ground and a touchdown.
Goff was 18-for-28 with 217 passing yards, a touchdown pass and an interception.
The Lions had a pretty commanding lead early in the third quarter. Goff threw a 52-yard touchdown pass to Jameson Williams with 10:29 left in the quarter to put Detroit up 17-3.
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Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) can’t hold onto a pass as Detroit Lions cornerback Carlton Davis III (23) defends during the first half of an NFL football game in Detroit, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/David Dermer)
It was at that moment the Rams needed to dig deep and get back into the game.
Stafford led the Rams on an 11-play, 70-yard drive that ended with a Kyren Williams touchdown to cut the deficit down to seven points. Rams kicker Joshua Karty added a 26-yard field goal and then Stafford found Cooper Kupp for a 9-yard touchdown.
In the Lions’ final drive, Goff got Detroit back to within field-goal range and Jake Bates hit a 32-yarder to tie the game. It was 20-20 when the game went into overtime.
Williams finished with five catches for 121 yards.
Stafford had a terrific game for the Rams. He showed up more for Los Angeles in the second half than he did in the first half. He ended the game with 317 passing yards, a touchdown pass and an interception.
The Rams’ offense was hurt early in the game when Puka Nacua left the game with a knee injury. He did not return.
Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (9) throws against the Detroit Lions during the first half of an NFL football game in Detroit, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)
Kupp had to step up in his absence. He had 14 catches on 21 targets for 110 yards and a touchdown. Tyler Johnson had five catches for 79 yards.
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A remade Rams defense played the Detroit Lions tough through four quarters on Sunday night.
But they could not stop the Lions in overtime.
Jared Goff drove his team 70 yards in eight plays and David Montgomery scored on a one-yard touchdown to send the Rams to a 26-20 defeat before 66,530 at Ford Field.
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford passed for a touchdown, running back Kyren Williams scored a touchdown and veteran safety John Johnson III had a key interception, but that was not enough.
It was another heartbreaking loss for the Rams and Stafford, who lost here, 24-23, last January in an NFC wild-card game.
Stafford, who played his first 12 seasons in Detroit, completed 34 of 49 passes for 317 yards and touchdown, with an interception.
But Goff, for whom Stafford was traded in 2021, outdueled him again, completing 18 of 28 passes for 217 yards.
It was a costly defeat for the Rams in more ways than one.
Wide receiver Puka Nacua and offensive lineman Steve Avila left the game because of knee injuries, offensive lineman Joe Noteboom an ankle injury.
The rash of injuries in the opener harked to 2022, when the defending Super Bowl-champion Rams lost several offensive linemen during a season-opening rout by the Buffalo Bills, a
The Rams trailed, 10-3 at halftime, and the Lions extended their lead early in the third quarter on Goff’s 52-yard touchdown pass to receiver Jameson Williams, who got behind Rams cornerback Tre’Davious for the long scoring play.
Rams running back Kyren Williams pulled the Rams to within 17-10 late in the quarter with a two-yard touchdown run. Stafford’s 14-yard pass to receiver Demarcus Robinson on a fourth-and-three play at the Lions’ 29 was the key play in the 70-yard drive.
Stafford and receiver Tyler Johnson connected for a long pass play that set up an apparent touchdown run by rookie receiver Jordan Whittington. But a holding penalty nullified the play and the Rams had to settle for a field goal that pulled them to within 17-13.
Johnson’s interception set up an 80-yard scoring drive that Stafford capped with a nine-yard touchdown pass to Kupp for a 20-17 lead with less than five minutes remaining.
The Rams had an opportunity to seal the victory when they got the ball back with just over four minutes left. But they were forced to punt, and the Lions kicked a field goal with 17 seconds left to force the game to overtime.
By Pete Sampson, Stewart Mandel and Justin Williams
No. 5 Notre Dame suffered a shocking upset against Northern Illinois, losing 16-14 on Saturday in South Bend after missing a 62-yard field goal on the last play.
The Irish were 28.5-point favorites, per BetMGM, and it’s the first time NIU has beaten a top-10 team in school history.
After Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard threw an interception with 5:55 left while holding a 14-13 lead, NIU drove 31 yards in 11 plays and got a 35-yard field goal from Kanon Woodill to take the lead with 31 seconds left. The Huskies had converted one fourth down en route to the field goal but were denied another first down by a questionable spot a few plays later, forcing them to attempt the go-ahead field goal earlier than hoped. Notre Dame completed a pass into NIU territory in the final seconds before its long field goal attempt was denied.
The loss comes one week after Notre Dame seemingly made an early College Football Playoff statement with a 23-13 win at Texas A&M. Now, the Irish are left picking up the pieces following a loss to a MAC team, the second time the Fighting Irish have lost at home to an opponent from the Group of 5 under third-year coach Marcus Freeman.
“Disappointing. It’s our job as coaches to make sure these guys are ready to go,” Freeman said afterward. “I’ve always said performance is a reflection of preparation.”
This is what it’s all about.
NIU’s @NIUCoachHammock is overcome with emotion after leading his team to the win at Notre Dame! @NIU_Football | @NIUAthletics | #MACtion pic.twitter.com/K7oS9tsrTC
— #MACtion (@MACSports) September 7, 2024
What happened to Notre Dame?
Notre Dame can check its College Football Playoff hopes, which fell to 34 percent immediately after Week 2 in The Athletic’s model from 73 percent — and may look far bleaker than that.
Even if the Irish had held on against Northern Illinois, Notre Dame looked like a shell of itself after last weekend’s statement win at Texas A&M. It all left Freeman exposed at the start of his third season, which looked like a make year last weekend and a break year on Saturday.
For Notre Dame, the loss deflates a season that was supposed to define Freeman’s tenure, one way or another. Now he’s left to explain another loss to a Group of 5 team, after previously losing to Marshall in 2022. Back then, Freeman had the benefit of time. He was supposed to learn on the job as a first-time head coach. This is different. Freeman was supposed to have matured in the job entering his third year, both in roster construction and staff assembly.
Retaining defensive coordinator Al Golden and hiring offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock felt like master strokes. Plucking Leonard out of the portal from Duke felt like genius move. Instead, Notre Dame is nearly drowning in questions two weeks into the season. — Sampson
GO DEEPER
Notre Dame suffers stunning upset to NIU: How did everything go so wrong for Irish?
Notre Dame’s offense deflates Playoff hopes
For the second time in as many weeks, Notre Dame’s new-look offense failed to inspire — and this time it cost them the game. Last week against Texas A&M, the Irish admirably rode a couple of long touchdown runs to victory in College Station, which was enough against an even worse A&M offense. But Saturday’s loss to Northern Illinois put the spotlight squarely on those struggles, particularly in the passing game, as Leonard finished 20-for-32 for 163 yards, zero touchdowns and two interceptions, after throwing for just 158 yards last week. In total, NIU outgained Notre Dame 388 to 286.
Freeman hired Denbrock this offseason specifically to address these concerns, bringing in a veteran play-caller and someone he worked alongside for a number of years while they were both coordinators at Cincinnati. At LSU last season, Denbrock led the most potent offense in the country in terms of points per game and yards per play, and produced a Heisman-winning QB in the process. Neither that explosiveness nor the familiarity has manifested for Notre Dame yet in 2024, but it needs to if the Irish still have any hopes of reaching the Playoff. And after Saturday, they may not. — Williams
NIU scores biggest win in program history
NIU had its moments over the year — beating No. 21 Alabama in 2003, going to the Orange Bowl in 2012 and producing Heisman finalist Jordan Lynch in 2013 – but beating a top-five Notre Dame team in South Bend is without question the biggest win in program history.
The previous highest-ranked win for the Huskies came against No. 15 Maryland on Aug. 28, 2003. It’s also the highest-ranked opponent a MAC team has ever beaten. The last time the MAC had a top-10 win was on Sept. 20, 2003, when it had two, plus NIU’s win over Alabama on the same day.
Sixth-year head coach and former NIU star running back Thomas Hammock led the Huskies to 2021 MAC championship game, but the team had been just 11-15 since then. NIU tied for third in the MAC’s preseason poll, and we’ll see if this upset becomes the prelude to another championship run.
Remember: The highest-ranked Group of 5 conference champion makes the Playoff. — Mandel
MAC wins vs. AP top-10 teams
| Date | Team | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Sept. 7, 2024 |
No. 5 Notre Dame |
16-14 |
|
|
Sept. 20, 2003 |
No. 6 Kansas State |
27-20 |
|
|
Sept. 20, 2003 |
No. 9 Pitt |
35-31 |
|
|
Sept. 20, 1986 |
No. 8 LSU |
21-12 |
|
|
Oct. 13, 1962 |
No. 9 Purdue |
10-7 |
Notre Dame has a quarterback problem
For all the praise directed at Leonard during the past nine months, Saturday was a reminder that little of it has been directed toward his right arm. Leonard has leadership qualities and run-game skills, but he has been a developmental passer two games into his Notre Dame career. For a quarterback with designs on playing at the next level, that must improve before the end of this season.
Leonard didn’t complete a pass of at least 20 yards against Northern Illinois and barely attempted any. He often looked hesitant reading the Northern Illinois defense and was picked off in the first half on a late throw over the middle to Jaden Greathouse. He was later picked off in NIU territory, setting up the Huskies’ winning drive.
The best of Leonard remains his rushing ability, which was ominously obvious on Notre Dame’s touchdown drive to open the game. Leonard had five rushing attempts during that drive, including the touchdown. It was as good as the Duke transfer looked in the game.
During training camp, Denbrock referenced how it took Jayden Daniels until his second season at LSU to master his offense, often not trusting his wideouts during that first fall. Leonard doesn’t have that kind of time. — Sampson
Why Notre Dame’s defense struggled
Notre Dame’s defense staged a professional performance last weekend at Texas A&M. The Irish didn’t allow a run of 10 yards or more. They didn’t allow a pass beyond 20 yards. They gave up just 13 points.
That all fell apart against Northern Illinois as the Huskies worked misdirection into the game plan at the expense of the younger Irish linebackers. Ethan Hampton hit running backs Antario Brown for an 83-yard touchdown in the first quarter with Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa in coverage. Brown put up a 43-yard reception later in the quarter. The Huskies also posted a 28-yard run.
.@ethan_hampton4 finds @S1imeBrown and takes it 83-yards to the HOUSE!! @NIU_Football | #MACtion pic.twitter.com/ei7PTsK81U
— #MACtion (@MACSports) September 7, 2024
It’s hard to square how Notre Dame’s younger linebackers — Viliamu-Asa, Drayk Bowen, Jaylen Sneed and Jaiden Ausberry — could regress so much in a each, although Ausberry made a big third-down stop and a fourth-down pass break-up in the second half. Whatever the reason, Golden and linebackers coach Max Bullough have a problem to solve heading toward next week’s game against Purdue.
Jack Kiser might be a reliable captain of the defense, but he needs help. — Sampson
“We’re 1-1. We have to accept that fact. But we have a long season ahead of us.” – Xavier Watts
— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) September 7, 2024
What’s next?
Notre Dame resumes its in-state rivalry against Purdue with a trip to West Lafayette next Saturday, followed by home games against Miami (OH) and Louisville before an Oct. 5 idle date.
NIU has an off week to celebrate its monumental win in South Bend before hosting Buffalo on Sept. 21 and visiting NC State for another chance at a Power 4 upset on Sept. 28.
(Photo: Brian Spurlock / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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