Telegraph: John Barnes declared bankruptcy due to poor management of the company and debt of more than 1.5 million pounds

October 1 According to the Telegraph, England and Liverpool legend John Barnes was declared bankrupt for accumulating more than £1.5 million in debt. He had been banned from serving as a director for three and a half years.

The United Kingdom's General Taxation and Customs filed its latest bankruptcy filing against Barnes, 61, on August 8. Two months ago, a liquidation report on John Barnes Media Ltd. showed that he owed the tax office £776,878 of unpaid VAT, national insurance and payroll tax, owed unsecured creditors £461,849, and a director loan of £226,000 and liquidation fees of £56,535.

Barnes has successfully avoided six bankruptcy filings since 2010 and has again avoided bankruptcy in 2023 by paying more than £200,000 in personal tax bills, the most recent one after he was banned from serving as a director of the company for more than a year.

The investigation found that John Barnes Media Ltd. failed to pay more than £190,000 in corporate tax and VAT between 2018 and 2020. Barnes signed an injunction agreement that prohibits him from serving as a director of the company for the next three and a half years. "Individuals and businesses that do not pay taxes have deprived the government of the funds needed to provide vital public services and infrastructure," said Mike Smith, chief investigator of the Bankruptcy Services. Barnes made 79 appearances for the England National Team in his nearly two decades of career and established John Barnes Media Ltd in September 2012. The company claims to provide media agency services, with a turnover of £441,798 between November 2018 and October 2020, but did not pay any taxes to the tax office during this period.

In 2009, Barnes was declared bankrupt for "tax negligence", but in a subsequent statement, he said he did not like to handle bills and was even reluctant to open them.

In November 2022, Liverpool Club announced the appointment of Barnes as club ambassador to conduct activities at home and internationally on behalf of Liverpool.