John Barnes, a celebrated figure in English football and Liverpool history, has opened up about his financial missteps, which include a series of unsuccessful investments worldwide, such as in Brazilian coffee, leading to his bankruptcy declaration.

In September, Barnes was declared bankrupt after his media company accumulated debts amounting to £1.5 million.

The financial troubles were linked to his now-defunct enterprise, John Barnes Media. Previously, the former football star faced a three-and-a-half-year ban from serving as a company director due to these substantial debts.

Barnes has been candid about his financial journey, revealing that he has been repaying HM Revenue and Customs over the past eight years. Since 2017, he has managed to pay back approximately £2.2 million and continues to remit £10,000 monthly.

During an appearance on the Overlap’s ‘Stick of Football,’ Barnes was questioned about his financial status, where he acknowledged that a series of misguided investments were partly to blame.

John Barnes has revealed how a series of bad investments – including in coffee in Brazil – had contributed to his financial problems

The England and Liverpool legend was declared bankrupt last September over a £1.5m debt

The 62-year-old likened his situation to that of the V11 group—comprising former professional footballers who collectively lost millions after being persuaded to invest in Kingsbridge Asset Management during the 1990s and 2000s.

Barnes revealed he had similarly been convinced to make investments across the world, including putting his money into Brazilian coffee.

‘I wasn’t like the V11. I got caught with a lot of coffee [investments] in Brazil, a lot of investments all over the world,’ Barnes said.

‘My agent was just an agent who did football. These are other people coming in to say, “Well, what about this? What about this scheme?” 

‘And then, of course, villas in Florida, similar to that. But I didn’t look to go down the route that they [the V11] then did [in attempting to get their money back].

‘But I lost a lot of money, and by the time I stopped playing football and this big tax bill came in, I was playing catch-up for many, many years

‘From 2017 up until last year, had finally paid off about £2m, but then the tax man wanted last year’s money, after cashing in everything I had to pay them.’

The former England and Liverpool star claimed he could have filed for bankruptcy back in 2017 and been in a better financial position as a consquence.

Barnes, pictured with his wife Andrea, said last year he had paid back £2.2m since 2017, rather than declare for bankruptcy, because he wanted to be seen to be paying off the sums owed

The former England winger said he had been cashing in everything in order to pay off the debt

Barnes stressed that he instead wanted to be seen to be paying off the sums owed.

‘What I really should have done is gone bankrupt from 2017, honestly I would have had £2m I could have done whatever I wanted with. But what I didn’t want to do is to be seen not paying it,’ Barnes added.

‘So of course people think, “He’s not paying tax, he’s not paying tax.” But from 2017, I’ve been paying everything I’ve had, cashing in everything, whatever house I had. So all I’ve got is my house, everything I physically can. 

‘I got down to the last year’s tax and thought it will be okay as I have been seen to be paying it off. They were overally aggressive and that is why I had to go bankrupt.

‘People said I should not have done it [paid it off] and kept the money. Because I see people go bankrupt and still have houses and cars, and stuff like that. And I don’t have that. 

‘I’ve still got my house and my car. But I haven’t got any investments anywhere, because I’ve cashed it all in. Because I really want people to know, because I see how hard it is for people all over when they can’t pay their heating bill and stuff. 

‘And here am I having money and now I’m not paying the tax. So the only reason I did it was because of that. But that’s life.’ 

Barnes contended that the current generation of players benefit from being given strong financial advice from a young age, compared to his generation where stars would take advice from ‘mates who knew somebody’.

Barnes made 79 appearances for England during his career and starred for both Watford and Liverpool. He was named player of the year in 1988 as he helped Liverpool to win the First Division.

He won the First Division twice and lifted two FA Cups and one League Cup with Liverpool, while he also spent time at Newcastle and Charlton.

Barnes, who had spells as manager of Celtic, Jamaica and Tranmere, serves as an ambassador for Liverpool.