Annette Sharp: Is the Michael Clarke and Anthony Bell bromance on the rocks?

Former cricketer Michael Clarke and accountant to the stars Anthony Bell have enjoyed a bromance that has endured 15 years, but has the tide finally turned, asks Annette Sharp.

From the boatsheds of Sydney’s harbourfront comes word this week that the tide may have finally turned on the long bromance between Michael Clarke and his longtime accountant mate Anthony Bell.

A year after the pair became co-owners of $15m superyacht Nassima, which, following a refurb, was renamed Ghost III and put out to charter on the Mediterranean, Clarke is said to be looking for a buyer for his interest in the extravagant pleasurecraft, which is currently moored in the port of Malta.

It was first reported in May 2022 that the two friends had purchased the 50m craft to expand their charterboat business Elite, which also includes two other vessels, Ghost and Ghost II, both of which are based in Sydney.

To celebrate the venture the men flew to Europe to take their new toy out for a spin off the coasts of France and Greece in July last year.

Bell invited his coterie of faithful Instagram-snappy mates/clients, including Larry and Sylvie Emdur, Terry Biviano and Anthony Minichiello, and his friend Laura Csortan, to join the party and presumably upload some images to the ’Gram to promote the venture, which they dutifully did.

Anthony Bell (left) and Michael Clarke have not been seen together since Clarke’s fracas in a Noosa park with his then-girlfriend Jade Yarbrough.

Also along for the cruise on the boat with six staterooms, a choice of sundecks and a large gymnasium were Sydney hoteliers Peter Calligeros and Damien Reed and their wives Sacha and Genevieve.

Around the same time came media reports linking ex-cricketer Clarke to Jade Yarbrough, sister-in-law of Karl Stefanovic, who coincidentally spent part of the northern summer in Europe.

Laura Csortan and Sacha Calligeros party on board the Nassima.

Csortan with Bell and Clarke’s yacht off the Greek coast.

Six months later that romance would sensationally implode in January after Clarke was filmed having an argument with Yarbrough and Stefanovic in a Noosa park after dark.

Clarke took the rap and Bell was said to have leapt into PR mode after the fracas to preserve Stefanovic’s TV career.

The former Australian cricket captain and Bell have not been sighted together since.

In February, this writer observed the men were no-shows at champion sailor Tom Slingsby’s Sydney bucks party, despite being invited along with Stefanovic, also a no-show.

Yesterday, Clarke did not respond to this columnist’s inquiries regarding any plans he may have to pull the pin on his Ghost III investment.

He similarly remained unresponsive regarding his current relationship status with Bell.

Along with Stefanovic and Emdur, Clarke has been one of Bell’s most enduring clients.

The men’s bromance first drew media attention in late 2007, around the time Clarke was dominating headlines following his engagement to swimsuit model Lara Bingle.

For a couple of years, Clarke and Bingle became Bell’s highest profile clients, more famous than fellow clients Phil Waugh, Anthony Minichiello and Luke Ricketson, the sports star clients Bell had until that time frequently traded on.

In 2009, Bell, who was dubbed “accountant to the stars” by A Current Affair in the years leading to him scoring a guest spot working alongside Emdur on Channel 7’s The Morning Show in 2008, sold his Bondi Beach apartment to Clarke for $6m.

At the zenith of their bromance the pair joined forces in 2015 for an unsuccessful attempt at the Sydney to Hobart yacht race on Bell’s Perpetual Loyal.

Clarke and Bell have been stuck to other like glue since — or at least were until January of this year.