London, August 11 (BN24)— Former England and Liverpool footballer John Barnes is facing a fresh bankruptcy threat after accumulating debts exceeding £1.5 million. The 61-year-old football legend, who enjoyed a successful career with Liverpool and the national team, is under pressure from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which filed a petition for bankruptcy at the High Court following unpaid debts linked to his media company.
Barnes’s media firm, John Barnes Media Limited, was found to owe nearly £800,000 to HMRC, and investigations have uncovered a series of financial mismanagement issues. The company, which Barnes set up after retiring from professional football in 2012, reportedly failed to pay substantial tax obligations, leading to its cessation in January 2020.
As of now, Barnes’s media company owes HMRC a total of £776,878 in unpaid VAT, National Insurance, and PAYE, along with a further £461,849 owed to unsecured creditors. Additionally, the company has a £226,000 director’s loan and £56,535 in liquidator’s fees. According to reports, while there is a “small distribution” anticipated for HMRC, there will be “no funds” available for other creditors.
Mike Smith, the chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, emphasized the significance of unpaid taxes, stating, “Individuals and businesses not paying the tax they should deprives the Government of the funding it needs to provide vital public services and investment in areas such as schools, hospitals, and roads.” Smith continued, “John Barnes had a legal duty to ensure his company paid the correct amount of corporation tax and VAT. Instead, it paid no tax whatsoever between November 2018 and October 2020, despite receiving earnings of well over £400,000.”
Barnes’s financial troubles date back several years. The former winger, who earned 79 caps for England, was banned from serving as a company director for three and a half years in 2024, after the Insolvency Service found that his company had failed to pay £78,000 in corporation tax between August 2018 and January 2020. Further investigations revealed that Barnes’s company had also neglected to pay £115,272 in VAT between February 2019 and 2020.
The latest bankruptcy petition is part of a long history of financial struggles for Barnes. In 2023, he narrowly avoided bankruptcy after settling a personal tax bill of more than £200,000. That case, along with another bankruptcy petition filed later that year, was dismissed after the debts were repaid. However, with the latest debts mounting, Barnes’s financial situation remains precarious.
In a 2009 interview, Barnes candidly admitted his dislike for handling financial matters. “I don’t like dealing with taxes of course. I just hate not having enough money. Apart from that, I don’t like dealing with bills and never have done. I let my wife Andrea deal with them. I don’t even like opening them,” he confessed.
To date, Barnes has repaid £60,000 of the director’s loan and is paying the remainder in installments. Despite these efforts, the fresh bankruptcy petition represents another chapter in his ongoing financial difficulties.
