Former Liverpool and Newcastle United winger John Barnes has been declared bankrupt after his media company accumulated debts of £1.5 million. The insolvency order was published in the London Gazette on September 30, following a petition filed by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in early August. The High Court of Justice issued the order on September 23.
An investigation by The Insolvency Service found that John Barnes Media Ltd failed to pay taxes between 2018 and 2020. The former England international owes £776,878 to HMRC in unpaid VAT, National Insurance, and PAYE, as well as £461,849 to unsecured creditors and a £226,000 director’s loan. Barnes was already banned from being a company director for three-and-a-half years in 2023 after his firm failed to pay over £190,000 in corporation tax and VAT.
The 61-year-old 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. Speaking to the All Things Business podcast last month, Barnes said he trusted the wrong people and lost between £1 million and £1.5 million over four years. He stated that he is paying £10,000 a month to HMRC but described the new bankruptcy as 'a bit of a blow'.
Barnes insisted he has no assets left and does not want hardworking people to think he refuses to pay taxes. '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,' he said. 'It would be easy to be made bankrupt because they can’t take anything else from me.'
