Arsenal great Sol Campbell has revealed he wrote off over 1.6m to help former club Portsmouth.
Portsmouth owed Campbell 1.67m in bonuses and image rights - plus another 200,000 in interest.
The former Tottenham and Arsenal star agreed with the administrator that he would not be paid until the club's financial problems were resolved - and then wrote it off completely because he did not want to further Portsmouth's problems.
Campbell told The News: "People need to know this because time has passed, but I have been honourable in everything I've done.
"I didn't get my money, I had to let it go. It was more than 1.6m I was entitled to it but I didn't want to hamper Pompey moving forward.
"Another person could have said, 'No, I want my money', but I didn't. No way. I was honourable and let it go. I didn't take a penny.
"I've been very generous and perhaps people haven't appreciated that."
Campbell said his decision to walk away from that money - and from a similar payday at Notts County - came down to a "love of football", and that rather than cashing in on both clubs, he said "I got nothing".
He added: "In the end, once I knew the dire situation, I wanted to let it go and take it on the chin."
Campbell said: "I believe I did an amazing job at Pompey as a footballer, but the guys in the accounts department haven't.
"I stuck to my part of the agreement, I did everything I was entrusted to do and more. I've kept us in the Premier League, won the FA Cup, took us into Europe, I did everything right but they didn't."