‘I’ve worked with bankrupt England icon – he needed an intervention’ | Other | Sport
John Barnes needed an intervention before being declared bankrupt, according to a fellow retired sports star who has worked with the Liverpool and England legend. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) recently announced John Barnes Media Limited, his now-liquidated company, had amassed debts exceeding £1.5million.
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. Barnes, capped 79 times by his country, 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. His financial problems have surprised former England and Bath rugby star David Flatman, who has worked with Barnes at various engagements and fundraising events.
He didn’t believe Barnes was extravagant with his money and suspects he just needed more guidance with managing his affairs. Speaking exclusively to Cosmos Currency Exchange, Flatman said: “If you’re a guy who got paid vast amounts of money in the NBA or the NFL, and you’re on $40million a year, and everywhere you go you arrive with an entourage.
“But I’ve done events with John Barnes before, fundraising events, and he doesn’t arrive in a helicopter or Rolls Royce, with 12 people taking a cut. He’s just a good bloke who arrived, did the event and got paid.
“Was he surrounded by the wrong people? I don’t know. But at the same time you do need somebody to tell you to stop spending all your money. I am 45 and I still need that.”
Flatman believes too much is expected of sportspeople of all ages. He added: “I actually think it’s not always to do with having been a sportsman. We expect certain things from sportspeople, some of which are unrealistic.
“A professional athlete gets caught doing something wrong, and I say yes, I know they shouldn’t, but this is just a 25-year-old bloke and he happens to do sport as a job. Just because he signs a contract, we expect everyone to be morally beyond reproach? But you also expect someone who earned money in the public eye to somehow be better advised than you are. Why would they?”
Flatman pointed out that Barnes didn’t play in an era when football was awash with money at the top level, as it is now. He said: “Was John Barnes playing in an era where lads were getting half a million a week? No, he didn’t.
“Did he retire with £100m in the bank like Wayne Rooney? Did he have a family office running his money? Probably not. He likely left his money to be dealt with by someone else and he may just not fully have known what was going on.
“But guess what? That’s most of us. I’m not in that situation, but it’s a situation I think about a lot because I’m useless with money! It has nothing to do with playing sport. It has to do with how some people are just useless with money, tax for example, and people are human beings. It’s nothing to do with sport.
“There are lots of people in all kinds of jobs that are not good with money. It’s just the walk of life. And the whole notion that someone who used to play professional sport should by default be better at managing their money is erroneous.
“It’s just that when they do go bankrupt, everyone hears about it because they are famous. There could be three blokes on my street who have gone bankrupt, but no one knows.
“It’s nothing to do with sport. Some people think it’s to do with earning a massive salary, then bang it goes. Well, Barnes stopped earning his football salary a very long time ago. The link to sport is misleading sometimes, I think.
