Liverpool and England legend John Barnes declared bankrupt after company runs up £1.5m in debts

Football legend John Barnes has been declared bankrupt after his company ran up debts of £1.5 million.

Giving his full name - John Charles Bryan Barnes - the bankruptcy notice was published in the London Gazette today (Sept 30) after a petition was filed by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in early August. It was issued in the High Court of Justice on September 23.

HMRC said John Barnes Media Limited, his now-liquidated company, had amassed debts exceeding £1.5 million. Liquidators’ reports show HMRC is owed £776,878 in unpaid VAT, National Insurance, and PAYE, alongside £461,849 to unsecured creditors and a £226,000 director’s loan.

The former Liverpool and England winger, capped 79 times for England, has faced multiple bankruptcy petitions since 2010, including one in 2023 over a £238,000 personal tax bill that was settled at the last moment.

Barnes, who lives in Heswall, Wirral, was banned from being a company director for three and a half years in 2023 after an Insolvency Service investigation found his firm failed to pay more than £190,000 in corporation tax and VAT between 2018 and 2020, despite a turnover of £441,798.

READ MORE: Football legend John Barnes opens up on tax nightmare: 'I'm paying what I owe'

READ MORE: Diego Simeone and Liverpool discover fate as UEFA dish out ban for Anfield row

Mike Smith, chief investigator at the service, said Barnes’s failure to ensure taxes were paid “should serve as a deterrent to other directors”.

The bankruptcy comes just a month after Barnes opened up about his tax nightmare saying: “I’m paying what I owe.”

The star, who was the first £10,000-a-week player, said he has been paying HMRC for the past eight years after suffering heavy losses from poorly advised investments.

He spoke to the All Things Business podcast to clear up what says are misleading reports about his financial affairs. Since 2017, Barnes said he had repaid around £2.2million and continues to pay £10,000 each month under arrangements agreed with the tax authority.

Speaking to the podcast the England star 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.”

He said since then, when he has been served with petitions, he and his legal representatives have gone to court to make arrangements to pay because he does not want to be made bankrupt.

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.”

He said negative stories surrounding his finances had impacted on a regular line of work, speaking about inclusion and diversity in business. Barnes added that because of this, some companies, particularly the banking and financial sector, had, understandably, stopped inviting him to speak.

He said he was still earning through professional engagements and didn’t allow his struggle with HMRC to affect his attitude towards life. “I’ve had a few sleepless nights, but it’s not had a major impact because I look at the way the world is and there are lots of people struggling more than me.

“And as long as I am able to work and to pay, I am just thankful. What have I got to complain about? But what does matter is that I reassure people, and the reason I am speaking about this now is because the narrative around me is so negative.

“I have been so fortunate in my life to still be able to work and pay my bills and my kids have a roof over their head and food on the table.

“The only reason I’m doing this is because people have been saying things that are not true, and I don’t want anyone thinking of me as John Barnes, ex-professional footballer, hiding all his money and not paying taxes.”

Barnes has been contacted for comment.