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Former Premier League star "not surprised" by John Barnes bankruptcy: "Football is full of financial sharks"

ended 13. October 2025

A FORMER Premier League star says he's "not surprised" by John Barnes being decalred bankrupt as he warned "football is full of financial sharks".

The former England and Liverpool winger Barnes was declared bankrupt last month over an unpaid personal tax bill.

Former Premier League footballer, Matt Jansen, shared his advice for young footballers with a lot of cash and the dangers of dodgy investments.

He said, speaking with Palantir Financial Planning: "Football is full of sharks so I'm not surprised by John Barnes bankruptcy – we have financial advisors coming to the lounge after a game.

"Back in my day there were lots of sharks and financial advisors who stitched me up. I had bad investments myself. You’d have financial advisors coming in after a game, into the players’ lounge, offering investments, saying: ‘I’m going to double your money in 12 months’, asking you to sign here and there.

"Nowadays it’s much more regulated. It wasn’t in my day. You were promised the Earth, and quite often it didn’t happen. It’s a safer environment now, but players can still fall into bad investments. It’s a lot more regulated and easier than it was in my day, and certainly in John Barnes' day.

"My advice would be to listen to experienced people within the family, if you’ve got a close-knit one. I’d bounce ideas off two or three people or trusted advisors. If they’re all saying the same or similar thing, that’s a good sign. 

"It’s more regulated now, they have to jump through many hoops before they can invest individuals’ money. But I’d still be cautious about giving my money to an investment claiming it’ll double every five years. If it’s too good to be true, it usually is. So I’d err on the side of caution.

"It's been well documented you have to research into the company you're trusting more."

David Flatman, former Bath rugby player, also shared his sympathy and empathy for Barnes' plight.

He said, speaking to Cosmos Currency Exchange: "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. I actually think it’s not always to do with having been a sportsman. We expect certain things from sports people, 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? 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 fully not 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, often, I think. 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.”

Financial experts said sportspeople are especially vulnerable to poor advice.

Patricia McGirr, Founder at Burnley-based Repossession Rescue Network, said: “I’ve worked with footballers who’ve come to me discreetly when debts and property pressures start to mount. Many are so shielded from everyday money decisions that by the time they realise something’s wrong, it’s often too late to fix. The real danger isn’t just bad investments – it’s financial detachment. 

"When every bill, deal and signature is handled by someone else, you lose touch with reality. Add in costly lifestyles, failed tax schemes, and family complications, and even staggering earnings can evaporate. This isn’t about greed. It’s about human behaviour, misplaced trust and a lack of financial grounding. 

"When the money stops, fear and shame take over – and when it’s splashed across headlines, the mental toll is immense. We need to stop treating financial education as optional for athletes. Wealth doesn’t protect you from money problems; it just raises the stakes when things go wrong.”

Fanny Snaith, Owner at Cheltenham-based Fanny Snaith - Certified Money Coach, said football clubs need to invest in financial advice.

She added: "It’s infuriating to see talented sportspeople still falling into financial ruin – not because they’re foolish, but because financial wellbeing is still treated as optional. A few years ago, I pitched to deliver money mindset sessions for a Premier League club – workshops on trust, self-awareness and the psychology behind money. 

"My fee was under £2,000. They said they couldn’t afford it. Yet we watch players lose millions through bad advice and emotional blind spots. Until clubs invest in genuine financial education – not just financial products – this will keep happening. 

"I teach people from surgeons to small business owners how to master their mindset and take control of money before it controls them. Money isn’t the problem – our relationship with it is."
 

7 responses from the Newspage community

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Editor
Anita WrightVerified
Chartered Financial Planner at Ribble Wealth Management
Stories like John Barnes’ highlight a long-standing problem in sport – talented individuals with significant earnings being targeted by opportunistic advisers promising the Earth. No adviser can ever promise to double a client’s money, just as no adviser can eliminate tax entirely. To suggest otherwise is misleading and creates a false sense of security for clients. Sadly, many have been drawn into “get rich quick” schemes in the past, and the consequences can be severe. For young footballers, the advice is simple: be cautious of promises that sound too good to be true, speak to the adviser yourself to get a genuine feel for their approach, and remember that bigger advisory firms are not always better – in some cases, you risk being treated as just another number. Sound financial planning is not glamorous, but it is sustainable. It is about protecting your wealth, keeping perspective through the noise, and making sure your money serves your life – not the other way around.
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Editor
Tony RedondoVerified
Founder at Cosmos Currency Exchange
Success in sport doesn't translate to financial acumen any more than success in any other occupation, so athletes need the same careful approach to money management as everyone else. The same rules apply: if it looks and sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Beware of sharks—predatory financial advisors making promises of unrealistic returns and using high-pressure tactics to get you to sign quickly without proper due diligence. Athletes tend to be young and operate in a high-pressure, competitive environment where they're fully focused on their sport, not money management. This can lead them to completely delegate financial decisions without understanding what's happening with their money. Regulation has tightened up in recent times, so today's stars will hopefully fare better than the sports stars of previous decades. A 'family office' structure might prove useful for today's highest earners.
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Philly PonniahVerified
Chartered Wealth Manager and Financial Coach at Philly Financial
Too many sportspeople start investing before they’ve done the inner work of getting clear on what actually matters to them. If you don’t have that foundation, your money has no direction, and it’s easy to be swept up in other people’s expectations, or feel obliged to give or spend in ways that don’t serve you. True wealth isn’t just about what you earn, it’s about being intentional with what you keep and grow. Until you’ve worked on your relationship with money eg rewiring old beliefs so you feel safe holding and growing it, even the best investments can feel unsettling. Clarity and mindset should come first because without them, it’s easy to make decisions that don’t align with what really matters to you.
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Kundan BhaduriVerified
Entrepreneur, Investor and Landlord at The Kushman Group
The fundamental problem here lies not in the earning capacity but in the financial education that treats wealth preservation as optional rather than essential. Athletes need boring portfolios of diversified assets (stocks, bonds and property), not exotic schemes promising unrealistic returns that appeal to competitive personalities accustomed to extraordinary achievement. Smart sportspeople would be better off appointing independent trustees and regulated advisers with fiduciary responsibilities, while setting up automatic savings systems that remove temptation to chase speculative opportunities. The solution is unsexy but effective. Professional sportspersons need to treat their income like lottery winnings that must last decades rather than years.
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Clive Bonny0
MD at Strategic Management Partners
This issue is directly linked to the national problem of life skills such as managing money and relationships being outside the national school curriculum. Most of our state education schools fail to recognise their overall mission and purpose is to prepare students for life in their communities. So this problem goes well beyond sports celebrities. It affects 90% of our population. We need real life coaches helping schools and there are lots willing to assist. But where are the Gov policy makers to support this simple solution?
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Patricia McGirrVerified
Founder at Repossession Rescue Network
I’ve worked with footballers who’ve come to me discreetly when debts and property pressures start to mount. Many are so shielded from everyday money decisions that by the time they realise something’s wrong, it’s often too late to fix.

The real danger isn’t just bad investments — it’s financial detachment. When every bill, deal and signature is handled by someone else, you lose touch with reality. Add in costly lifestyles, failed tax schemes, and family complications, and even staggering earnings can evaporate.

This isn’t about greed. It’s about human behaviour, misplaced trust and a lack of financial grounding. When the money stops, fear and shame take over — and when it’s splashed across headlines, the mental toll is immense.

We need to stop treating financial education as optional for athletes. Wealth doesn’t protect you from money problems; it just raises the stakes when things go wrong.
Copy

Fanny SnaithVerified
Owner at Fanny Snaith - Certified Money Coach
It’s infuriating to see talented sportspeople still falling into financial ruin — not because they’re foolish, but because financial wellbeing is still treated as optional. A few years ago, I pitched to deliver money mindset sessions for a Premier League club — workshops on trust, self-awareness and the psychology behind money. My fee was under £2,000. They said they couldn’t afford it. Yet we watch players lose millions through bad advice and emotional blind spots. Until clubs invest in genuine financial education — not just financial products — this will keep happening. I teach people from surgeons to small business owners how to master their mindset and take control of money before it controls them.

Money isn’t the problem — our relationship with it is.