Liverpool Legend, John Barnes Declared Bankrupt After Company Racks Up £1.5m Debt

Liverpool icon John Barnes has been declared bankrupt after his company accumulated debts totaling £1.5 million.

The bankruptcy notice appeared in the London Gazette on Tuesday, September 30, following a petition filed by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in early August. It was formalized in the High Court of Justice on September 23.

According to The Mirror, HMRC reported that John Barnes Media Limited, the former footballer’s now-dissolved company, had incurred debts surpassing £1.5m. Liquidators’ reports indicate HMRC is owed £776,878 in unpaid VAT, National Insurance, and PAYE, in addition to £461,849 owed to unsecured creditors and a £226,000 director’s loan.

The former Reds and England winger, who earned 79 caps for the Three Lions, has faced several bankruptcy petitions since 2010, including one in 2023 over a £238,000 personal tax bill that was resolved at the last minute.

Barnes, residing in Heswall, Wirral, was barred from serving as a company director for three-and-a-half years in 2023 after an Insolvency Service investigation revealed his firm failed to pay over £190,000 in corporation tax and VAT between 2018 and 2020, despite generating a turnover of £441,798.

Mike Smith, chief investigator at the service, stated that Barnes’s failure to ensure taxes were paid “should serve as a deterrent to other directors”. The bankruptcy declaration comes just a month after Barnes spoke openly about his tax troubles, saying: “I’m paying what I owe.”

The former footballer, known as the first £10,000-a-week player, revealed he has been making payments to HMRC for the past eight years after suffering significant losses from poorly advised investments.

He appeared on the All Things Business podcast to address what he claims are misleading reports regarding his financial situation.

Since 2017, Barnes stated he had repaid approximately £2.2 million and continues to pay £10,000 monthly under an agreement with the tax authority.

Speaking on the podcast, Barnes said: “I was making a lot of money, I was the first £10,000 a week footballer and benefited from that for a few years. Like a lot of elite sportspeople, I got burned because I trusted people, I got caught out a couple of times and ended up losing between £1m and £1.5m over four years.

“In 2017, I began talking to HMRC about what I could do to repay what I owed.”

Barnes added: “I know how hard it is for people out there. I don’t want to say there are loopholes, or that I can get away with this or that, or have people think I can be made bankrupt and keep my assets, because I’ve already sold everything. I don’t have any assets.

“But every time something new comes up, stories appear in the press saying negative things about how I am not paying my taxes, even though I’m going to court, not to be made bankrupt, but to ask for permission to keep paying.

“Football is a working-class sport, and I don’t want hard working people thinking I’ve got all this money and I won’t pay tax. It would be easy to be made bankrupt because they can’t take anything else from me.”

A Gentle Reminder: Every obstacle is a stepping stone, every morning; a chance to go again, and those little steps take you closer to your dream.

Nnamdi Okoli