Former players claim 'financial grooming' left them spiralling

Politicians, campaigners and former footballers have protested at 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 HM Revenue & Customs.

- Jacob Steinberg

A host of peers, MPs, lawyers and experts in policing and tax laws gathered in Westminster on Monday night to hear from alleged victims of investment and pension fraud and their subsequent treatment by HMRC. The launch of the investment fraud committee, 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 footballers. Sources said that many former players whose careers peaked in the 1990s have become unwell and struggled with their mental health because of their financial problems.

The former Manchester United and England striker Andy Cole, the former Leeds striker Brian Deane, the former Arsenal and Liverpool midfielder Michael Thomas and the 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 £2.5m tax bill after investing in a film scheme that promised tax breaks to investors. The former England international lost a court case in 2019 over £1m he borrowed from the private bank Coutts to invest in the scheme.