A policeman stands outside the house of Liverpool footballer Steven Gerrard after it was burgled while the player was abroad. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
When Carl Bishop smashed his way into a grand house on a leafy avenue in Formby, Merseyside, successfully evading the security system, he was delighted to find a bounty of champagne and whisky. But there was one 6ft 4in item of anti-burglary technology that he had reckoned without: the Everton striker Duncan Ferguson. Bishop tried to smash a bottle of vodka over the footballer's head, before feeling the full force of "Big Dunc's" fist in his face – the thief was confined to hospital for two days. It was the second attempted robbery that Ferguson had foiled in his home; two years earlier, in 2001, he had sat on a thief until the police arrived.
How today's Premiership footballers must wish "confrontation burglaries" were resolved so decisively. Now, the robbers would appear to have the upper hand – not least because they usually strike when players are otherwise engaged on the pitch, leading to this phenomenon being dubbed "away-day" thefts.
In the most recent case, three men in home-made masks broke into the mansion belonging to Everton defender Phil Jagielka while his club was playing Hull City. They may have been unaware that Jagielka was injured, and sitting at home watching his club on television with three mates. The gang brandished knives, forcing the player to open his state-of-the-art safe before speeding off in his wife's Range Rover with cash, jewellery, two Rolexes and a Breitling diamond watch.
Jagielka was the 21st Premiership star based in north-west England in just over three years to be subjected to a terrifying burglary. The Premiership elite may collect weekly wages of up to £150,000, but their fame, fortune and all-too-conspicuous consumption comes at a price. Not only does every fan know what cars they drive and their favourite boutiques but, crucially, everyone knows when footballers – unlike the other residents of affluent suburbs such as Formby, Woolton, Knutsford and Bowdon – are out at work. These thefts have become so regular that bookmakers Paddy Power even offered odds on which Liverpool star would be burgled next, before swiftly withdrawing its bad joke.
There was a hint that Premiership clubs are becoming impatient with the failure to put away the robbers. After the Jagielka attack, David Moyes, the Everton manager, said: "It's a big worry for the players and their families, and something has to be done about it. I think it has to be looked at by police, and the people in charge there."
As the raids mount up, so do theories about a highly organised away-day gang. While detectives say this is an oversimplification of a spate of disparate and largely unconnected thefts, few suspects have been brought to justice and footballers are more terrified – and paranoid – than ever.
Away-day robberies kicked off in the north-west in the summer of 2006, when a young Scouser named James Birch smashed through a patio door of a home in Caldy, Merseyside – a wealthy suburb that is virtually a footballers' retirement community, such is the density of Liverpool legends living there. It was claimed that Birch had no idea that the house belonged to the then Liverpool goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek, but the success of his raid, which netted Dudek's Champions League medal, jewellery and a Porsche, led Birch to realise it was obvious when footballers would be away from home playing matches.
According to Dudek, within days of the robbery he had received "10 calls from Liverpool fans telling me who had done it". But the police took rather longer to finger Birch and, in the follow-ing months, he and his accomplices also stole from the homes of Liverpool reserve player Florent Sinama-Pongolle, then first-teamers Peter Crouch and Daniel Agger while they were playing against Galatasaray in the Champions League. Crouch scored twice at Anfield, but returned home to find his sofas slashed and football shirts, medals and an Aston Martin missing.
The gang also raided the homes of Everton's Tony Hibbert and Andy van der Meyde. Robbing Van der Meyde was quite a challenge – injuries and disciplinary problems restricted the wayward winger to just 20 appearances in his four seasons with Everton – but Birch's gang chose a rare night when he was playing in a testimonial match and stole his Ferrari, a Mini, eight Rolexes and a pedigree Dogue de Bordeaux puppy named Mac.
This away-day gang was thwarted, however, when Birch was arrested and jailed in December 2006, although no one else was imprisoned.
Then, in December 2007, events took a more menacing turn. While Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard was playing in his team's 4-0 victory over Marseille in France, four masked robbers evaded formidable security systems at his mansion in Formby and confronted his wife, Alex Curran, while their young daughters were asleep. Only that morning, Curran had (perhaps unwisely) revealed to the local press that she had treated her husband to a £10,000 Cartier watch for Christmas. The thieves stole a Rolex and two sets of car keys, but missed the Cartier. Merseyside police last week charged Martin Wilson, a 22-year-old man from Liverpool, with burglary and robbery in relation to the raid on Gerrard's home. "We are still looking for other people in connection with the incident," said a spokesman for Merseyside police.
Meanwhile, away-day robberies have become increasingly violent. In July last year, Emile Heskey's girlfriend was threatened with a knife at their home in Hale by two men who stole jewellery and keys to the former Wigan striker's BMW X5. Less than a mile away, the wife of Roque Santa Cruz was held at knifepoint by raiders in December, while the then Blackburn striker was playing away at Portsmouth. In February, in the same village, three hooded men targeted a mansion that belonged to Darren Fletcher, just after the Manchester United midfielder had flown to Europe for a Champions League match. His fiancee, Hayley Grice, was grabbed by the hair and threatened with a knife before thieves made off with her £30,000 engagement ring and other jewellery. A man arrested over the raid was last week released without charge.
"Liverpool is a renaissance city," says Ian Ross, director of communications at Everton. "It has transformed itself – crime rates for things like car theft and burglary have fallen dramatically – and yet there is an increase in burglaries on the homes of footballers. It doesn't reflect well on the city and we always condemn it."
For wealthy footballers, the obvious answer is security – lots of it. On Gerrard's street, the most expensive on Merseyside, virtually every house has high walls primed with anti-climb paint, burglar alarms, electronic entry and sophisticated anti-theft systems. "Warning: CCTV cameras in constant operation" reads a plaque by one gate. "This property is protected by CCTV. All images are stored remotely," says another, in a bid to confound those robbers who smash up CCTV systems.
Outside Gerrard's house, on a day that he is playing abroad, a saloon with blacked-out windows repeatedly appears. This may be a discreet private security patrol: since alarms appear not to deter the thieves, footballers are increasingly turning to private surveillance and even "static patrols" that offer 24/7 cover outside their homes. A number of players on Merseyside have permanent or semi-permanent security guards, and clubs admit that security is a topic of conversation in the dressing rooms.
"Football clubs are becoming a lot more active now with the security provision they put in place," says John Bramhall, assistant chief executive of the Professional Footballers Association (PFA). "It is a major concern to look after their players, so that they can focus on playing football."
Manchester United stepped up security arrangements for their players following the attack on Fletcher's girlfriend and home. Aston Villa employs security advisers who have raced to players' homes when there have been any concerns over a break-in. Everton players meet the police twice a year and are also given security advice by the club's safety officer, an ex-police officer. Foreign players are given particular support and advice over places to live and security measures, with the club's player liaison officer on hand to offer extra support. But Ross says that, just like any other employee, players are ultimately responsible for their own security arrangements at home. "They have security guards and advanced security systems, and they do what they can."
The PFA has just linked up with Case Security, which provides free quotes to footballers desperate to upgrade their domestic security. "It is imperative that players secure their homes and put into place adequate systems to fully protect themselves and their families," says PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor.
Case has already provided footballers with access control systems, CCTV and intruder alarm packages with alarms linked to the police. Panic rooms are also "not uncommon" in a number of homes, says Case's service controller, Philip Starr. These are understated affairs with subtly reinforced doors and walls. A firm in Cheshire even claims to have had inquiries from players about installing armour plating in their cars.
With all this gadgetry, why are footballers still defeated by violent burglars? According to Starr, unless you want to turn your home into Fort Knox, there will always be a chance that an armed gang can break in. "If someone is absolutely determined to break in, there is only so much you can do. You can't eliminate 100% of risk. You can only eliminate 99.9%, and that's what we try to do."
But are police taking this threat to footballers seriously? And are investigations hampered by the fact that the burglaries have happened in suburbs covered by three different police forces: Cheshire, Merseyside and Greater Manchester? Detective Sergeant Chris Barrow of Cheshire Constabulary said he could not rule in or out a link between the most recent Jagielka raid and previous thefts against footballers, though he has been in touch with colleagues in Greater Manchester and Merseyside.
"One would presume that those who are doing it when the footballers are away put a degree of research and knowledge into the raids," Barrow says. "If the same group had done that with Jagielka, they would have realised he'd been injured and unlikely to be away with Everton." He would not speculate on whether they had made a mistake.
Detectives say the burglaries in Liverpool, Manchester and Cheshire are unlikely to be connected – apart from in the media. Gangs "don't tend to travel any more" in the north-west, says one police source. Also, the patterns are different: Merseyside has suffered more away-day burglaries than other areas although these have not tended to be violent, knife-point attacks.
And even in Manchester, police are not linking the aggravated burglaries of Fletcher, Santa Cruz and Heskey, despite their proximity and similar modus operandi. Investigations are at an advanced stage in the Fletcher case, and detectives believe the gang who attacked the Manchester United midfielder's home were not an away-day gang, and had also targeted a number of non-football properties in affluent suburbs of the city.
While Premiership footballers and their clubs believe our leading players disproportionately fall victim to violent burglaries, the police are frustrated by the attention they attract compared with raids on less famous people. A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester Police does not believe – in Manchester, anyway – that footballers are targeted because of who they are.
"Footballers are no different to any members of the public as far as the police are concerned," she says. "They tend to be targeted by thieves because they have particularly nice cars. We put out appeals about nice cars being stolen every day. What's insulting is no one is bothered about that."
Are away-day gangs a fiction, then? "I'm not saying it's a fiction, but it seems to be a buzzword that someone's come up with – and that person was not a police officer investigating one of these crimes."
Football crimes
Players burgled in the north-west
1. Wayne Rooney, Manchester United
July 06: Liverpool (parents' home).
2. Jerzy Dudek, then Liverpool
Aug 06: Caldy, Merseyside
While on holiday in Poland.
3. Andy van der Meyde, then Everton
Aug 06: Bromborough, Merseyside
While playing in testimonial match.
4. Tony Hibbert, Everton
Aug/Sept 06: Merseyside.
5. Peter Crouch, then Liverpool
Sept 06: Alderley Edge, Cheshire
While playing v Galatasaray at Anfield.
6. Daniel Agger, Liverpool
Sept 06: Caldy
While playing v Galatasaray.
7. Florent Sinama Pongolle, then L'pool
Sept 06: Wirral, Merseyside.
8. Stelios Giannakopoulos, Bolton
Oct 07: Whittle-le-Woods, near Chorley.
9. Dirk Kuyt, Liverpool
Nov 07: Woolton, Merseyside
While on international duty with Holland.
10. Steven Gerrard, Liverpool
Dec 07: Formby, Merseyside
While playing v Marseille in France.
11. Pepe Reina, Liverpool
May 08: Woolton
While playing against Chelsea in London.
12. Emile Heskey, then Wigan
July 08: Hale, Greater Manchester.
13. Robbie Keane, then Liverpool
Sept 08: Central Liverpool
While on international duty with Ireland.
14. Lucas Leiva, Liverpool
Nov 08: Woolton
While playing v Atletico Madrid at Anfield
15. Jermaine Pennant, then Liverpool
Dec 08: Cheshire
16. Roque Santa Cruz, then Blackburn
Dec 08: Bowdon, Greater Manchester
17. Darren Fletcher, Manchester United
Feb 09: Bowdon
In Italy for match v Inter Milan.
18. Steven Pienaar, Everton
May 09: Woolton
Preparing to play Spurs at Goodison Park.
19. Federico Macheda, Manchester Utd
July 09: Sale, Greater Manchester.
20. Vince Grella, Blackburn Rovers
Aug 09: Wilmslow, Cheshire.
21. Phil Jagielka, Everton
Sept 09: Knutsford, Cheshire.
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