We splashed £10K on our kids’ birthday party but we’re just like everyone else
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SHE lives in a sprawling 10-bedroom mansion, with a helicopter landing pad, swimming pool, gym and a sea of Chanel cushions.
And Mansfield Town CEO Carolyn Radford, 41 – who featured on Billionaire Babies – once threw a £10,000 birthday party for her sons Hugo, 10, and twins Rupert and Albert, nine.
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But Carolyn – who’s worth a whopping £155 million, together with her Mansfield Town FC owner husband John Radford, 58 – insists her kids aren’t spoiled.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun – ahead of Mansfield Town’s Good Friday clash with Ryan Reynolds’ Wrexham – she insists her family are just like any other, with football often causing rows in the house and tearing the family apart.
“We are quite a normal family,” Carolyn tells us. “The boys are not really materialistic at all.
“We try to teach the boys to work hard. They’re getting to the age where they need to know the value of money, which was always instilled in me – although we don’t make them do chores around the house.
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“You have to be careful, especially when they could be spoiled brats. But they’re not like that.
“They’re really nice, good boys, so hopefully it stays that way!”
In a 2019 episode of Billionaire Babies Carolyn – along with Sir Elton John’s party planner Steve Duggan Events – was seen planning a circus and funfair-themed party at Mansfield’s Field Mill stadium.
The lavish birthday bash featured rides set up on the pitch and a then four-year-old Albert was seen bursting into tears as he rode a carousel.
“That party was for a TV show,” Carolyn insists.
“We were told to create a birthday party and then do all these kind of lavish things and it was set at the football club.”
But she says the boys have never asked for extravagant toys for Christmas and birthdays, although they have recently discovered computer games that come with expensive accessories.
“It’s different now because they love these computer games and you have to buy these things like guns to go with it so they come to me and ask for that, but I hate these computer games.
“I don’t get it. I don’t see the value in it.”
While they also have a stunning holiday home in Portugal’s luxurious Algarve, Carolyn and John spend most of their time living in Nottinghamshire at Barnby Moor Hall.
Unsurprisingly, Carolyn doesn’t personally clean the marble floors of the 10-bedroom mansion or tend to its 24 acre grounds, but she does try to ensure her sons see her helping out around the house.
“I often throw myself into cooking,” she says. “People probably think I’m unintelligent, spend all day shopping, and don’t do anything – but, in fact, I work really hard.
“The boys see us working on the businesses and on the phone all the time.”
She continues: “It is really important they see that if you want anything, you have to work hard.
Football fights
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Unsurprisingly, given the couple’s jobs, their sons are “obsessed with football” – and desperate to join an academy.
However, one’s an Arsenal fan, while another supports Liverpool – although Mansfield is “hypothetically their first team”.
Carolyn laughs: “We actually said to them the other day, ‘If we ended up playing Liverpool in the Premier League or in a cup, who would you support?’ and the initial reaction was Liverpool.
“I was like, ‘You can’t say that!’”
If we lose the football, it’s horrible, because we both hurt a lot – John blames me and then I blame myself
Carolyn Radford
But that’s not the only time football comes between the family.
Carolyn confesses Tuesdays and Saturdays, when Mansfield Town play, are tense in the Radford household.
“We’ve got a happy family life,” she says. “But football is probably the thing we argue about most on a Tuesday and Saturday.
“We’ve not lost too many times this season but when we have, that’s probably when we clash a little bit.
“If we lose the football, it’s horrible, because we both hurt a lot.”
She continues: “We really want the football club to do well for the people of Mansfield, who want us to get promoted and we’ve put so much effort into it.
“So it’s like being stabbed in the chest when we lose. It’s hard to manage that emotion and not blame each other.
“John blames me and then I blame myself because you have all these weird superstitions so I think, ‘Oh gosh, I should have made a cup of tea at a different time’.
“The kids hate losing as well. It just affects the whole family dynamic.
“But there’s nothing you can do. It’s down to the footballers on the pitch to do their thing and the manager to make the right choice.”
Made in Mansfield doc?
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Carolyn and John will be on tenterhooks on Good Friday, as Mansfield Town is playing Wrexham – owned by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
And Carolyn is hoping they’ll come over to Wales for the Easter football match, which is to be televised.
“It’d be nice to meet Ryan Reynolds and his wife Blake Lively,” she smiles. “She’s amazing!”
Ryan and Rob have brought huge publicity to Wrexham, thanks to their Disney+ documentary Welcome to Wrexham, which has won five Emmy awards.
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And Carolyn really enjoyed the couple of episodes she’s seen as well as the Beckham documentary on Netflix.
She says: “It’s nice to see behind the club.
“In the Beckham one, when it goes back in time to the Man United days, the lady on the reception and everything behind the scenes is all quite similar to Mansfield – even though we’re league two and they’re Man United. I love that.”
But don’t expect Mansfield to follow in Wrexham’s footsteps.
Carolyn adds: “I like watching them but I don’t think there’ll be a Made in Mansfield documentary.
“I get really nervous about doing TV now – I don’t know if it’s being middle-aged or anxiety.
“I do my job at the football club and that’s fine for me, but I get nervous on TV.
“Never say never though!”
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