Former Newcastle United star declared bankrupt after unpaid £1.5m debt
John Barnes spent almost two years at Newcastle United in the late 1990s.
England legend John Barnes has been declared bankrupt after his media company racked up debts of £1.5million.
The London Gazette published an insolvency order on Tuesday for his firm John Barnes Media Ltd - which went into liquidation in 2023. An investigation by The Insolvency Service previously found that, between 2018 and 2020, no taxes had been paid despite a £441,798 turnover.
He was subsequently banned from acting as a company director for three-and-a-half years. According to the liquidators’ report, Barnes owed HMRC £776,878 in unpaid VAT, National Insurance, and PAYE, as well as £461,849 to unsecured creditors and a £226,000 director’s loan.
‘A blow’ - John Barnes
Speaking to the All Things Business podcast last month, Barnes claimed he placed his trust in the wrong people. He said: “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 £1million and £1.5million over four years.
“In 2017, I began talking to HMRC about what I could do to repay what I owed. Apart from a few sleepless nights, it hasn't had a major impact on me because you look at the way the world is. You look at people struggling much worse than me.
"As long as I'm able to work and pay, and as much the work I'm doing is to get money to pay off (the taxman), as I'm doing now paying £10,000 a month, which means that I don't earn £20,000 a month, which means that I'm going to have tax issues down the line. But I've whittled it down, I thought I had whittled it down to one year so this new thing is a bit of a blow."
Newcastle United spell
Barnes spent almost two years at Newcastle United in the late 1990s during the latter stages of his career. Sir Kenny Dalglish brought the then 33-year-old to St James’ Park having previously signed him at Liverpool.
His debut season saw him deputise up front for the injured Alan Shearer, scoring six league goals to finish the campaign as top scorer. Stuart Pearce, another fading star who joined Newcastle in that era, famously called Barnes overweight in his 2001 autobiography.
John Barnes ‘loves’ Newcastle United
Speaking to The Chronicle in 2018, Barnes admitted his love for Newcastle and the club’s supporters. He said: “To play so well against Barca and do what we did that night does not get much better.
“As much as people will remember it for Tino’s hat-trick for the biggest feature of the game was Keith Gillespie’s performance. Don’t forget this was against a top notch Barcelona defence and he ripped them open time and time again.
“He gave them a torrid time and it was probably his best game for the club. The Champions League is special and for me, it was even more so as I’d never played in it because Liverpool were banned for five years.
“The European nights are special and Newcastle didn’t have many. I loved the people and culture of the fans at Newcastle. I have a soft spot for all the teams I played for.”