Politicians, campaigners and former soccer players have protested the financial grooming of Premier League stars who claim they were persuaded to put their money into failed investment schemes that led to them being accused of tax avoidance and faced with enormous penalties from His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
The launch of the Investment Fraud Committee on Monday night, an all-party parliamentary group, featured harrowing testimony from several victims over the course of three hours and opened with a heavy focus on issues that are understood to have affected hundreds of former soccer players.
Many former players whose careers peaked in the 1990s have become unwell and struggled with their mental health because of their financial problems, sources said.
Photo: AFP
Former Manchester United and England striker Andy Cole, former Leeds United striker Brian Deane, former Arsenal and Liverpool midfielder Michael Thomas, and former Liverpool and Fulham midfielder Danny Murphy were among those who attended the meeting.
Murphy, who has become a leading pundit for the BBC and TalkSport since his retirement, was hit with a ￡2.5 million (US$3.34 million) tax bill after investing in a film scheme that promised tax breaks to investors. The former England international lost a court case in 2019 more than ￡1 million he borrowed from the private bank Coutts to invest in the scheme.
The campaigners said it was wrong that soccer players who invested in failed film schemes later received huge tax bills, penalties and demands for interest payments from HMRC.
“I couldn’t think of a more brilliant place than a football club to find victims,” Murphy said.
Young professionals often turned to older teammates and managers for advice on how to manage their money and were then introduced to financial advisers who quickly sought to gain their trust, he said, adding that it was grooming.
Murphy, who said there was no intention to avoid tax, talked about how people would insert themselves in players’ lives before getting them to agree to investments later down the line.
“Our option [for investment] was these people,” he said. “It’s not footballers, it’s young men being manipulated. People can’t understand why you got into this position. It makes you feel silly — it adds to the shame. People have been through hell and back. Some are still there.”
Murphy talked about former players experiencing depression, anxiety, financial ruin and family breakups, adding that the HMRC does not have the desire or competence to target the perpetrators of investment fraud.
Some people had been pushed to the brink of suicide, Deane said.
“I watched it break friends’ marriages,” he said. “It affects your health and well-being.”
HSIEH ADVANCES: In the women’s doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei was to play in the second round last night, but Taiwan’s Ray Ho exited in the men’s doubles It is more than 10 years since Grigor Dimitrov reached his sole Wimbledon semi-final and back then it still seemed a reasonable bet that the Bulgarian once dubbed “Baby Federer” would win a Grand Slam title. There were semi-final runs at the US Open and Australian Open after that, but it has never quite happened and despite him still being ranked No. 21, it most likely never will. Dimitrov, 34, remains one of the most stylish players on the circuit though, with his elegant single-handed backhand and smooth all-court game a rare reminder of how tennis was before the power merchants turned
Spain are the favorites to win the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025, but star player Aitana Bonmati’s illness ahead of the tournament raises another question mark around a side which, despite their obvious quality, are not unstoppable. Having claimed the last two Ballon d’Or awards, Barcelona midfielder Bonmati is the game’s biggest star at present, so her absence in the final days before the start of Euro 2025 is a major setback. The 27-year-old came down with a fever in training last week, and was subsequently hospitalized and diagnosed with viral meningitis. Bonmati was discharged on Sunday and joined up with
INJURY TURMOIL: Despite stunning French Open champions Paolini and Errani to advance, Chan was forced to pull out after her partner’s tearful women’s singles defeat Last year’s mixed doubles champions Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and Poland’s Jan Zielinski on Monday crashed out of the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, leaving the Taiwanese star focused on pursuing a fifth women’s doubles title in London, while a partner injury forced compatriot Chan Hao-ching to give up on her doubles campaign. Hsieh and Zielinksi, who last year also won the Australia Open title, narrowly lost their opening set 7-6 (9/7), before Britain’s Joe Salisbury and Brazil’s Luisa Stefani stunned the former champions 6-3 at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. The Taiwanese-Polish duo had been dominant in the first two
Real Madrid’s FIFA Club World Cup quarter-final against Borussia Dortmund had taken three crazy turns during nine minutes of second-half stoppage time when Marcel Sabitzer chested the ball and sent a right-footed volley toward Thibaut Courtois’ post. Courtois leapt to his right, extended the long arm on his 2m frame and just managed to get his gloved fingertips on the ball, knocking it down. Courtois hit the ground as the ball bounded up. He looked skyward, planted his right hand to regain his balance, grabbed the ball with both hands on the second bounce and fell onto it with his chest. Sabitzer turned
RSS