Football’s Financial Shame….

comment by The heart of Farkeness (U19827)
posted 7 hours, 23 minutes ago
comment by LIW 100 Points, champions, Lose two games only (U8453)
posted 2 hours, 27 minutes ago
Was going to watch it, until read this

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cg7jn722rkeo

Hard to have sympathy, when they were using loopholes and schemes, to avoid paying Tax.


Also what the hell was wilkinson doing 🤦
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Haven’t seen it yet, but these lads were footballers. Not accountants or economists or merchant bankers. With more money than most of us see in a lifetime. Easy pickings for the unregulated world of financial advisers.
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I'd hope they catch the gangsters who clearly targeted the rich young players. However, I doubt they'll get much sympathy from the man in the street - as has been said, they were possibly looking to increase their wealth by nefarious means before coming unstuck.

Just watched it and unfortunately Howard Wilkinson doesn't come out of this looking too good as it looks like he got paid neatly 100k over 4 years to endorse the investment company that made so many footballers trust them with millions in investment ventures that went belly up but still liable for eye watering amounts in tax.

Wilko was probably unaware of what would unfold but refusing to make a statement on the BBC expose is not a good look.

So much to unpack from that programme, painful to
watch at times….irrespective of the issues I do wish
the guys all the best and they get the justice they feel
they deserve.
From a Leeds perspective I hope Brian and Rod all
the best and they solve their difficulties, though Rod
is now bankrupt.

We all know the game is such an inflationary money
making business for players, agents and investment opportunities, the economic free market in football shows no sign of it slowing down.

Unfortunately it attracts sharks and charlatans,
interesting the police are calling it a crime of fraud
but not enough evidence to prosecute.

comment by Macca & The Rhythm Sticks/Crutching Peacock Hidden Ferret (U8194)
posted 15 minutes ago
Just watched it and unfortunately Howard Wilkinson doesn't come out of this looking too good as it looks like he got paid neatly 100k over 4 years to endorse the investment company that made so many footballers trust them with millions in investment ventures that went belly up but still liable for eye watering amounts in tax.

Wilko was probably unaware of what would unfold but refusing to make a statement on the BBC expose is not a good look.
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Yes, Macca it doesn’t put Wilkinson in a good light,
be interesting if he makes any statements in the
coming days?

A tough watch, you’ve got to feel sorry for them.

But when things seem to good to be true, they normally are.

I wish it explained more about why they are now getting tax bills, it wasnt clear.

How I interpreted it, was they all got 40% tax rebates on property investements, which had to be paid back after 15 years. All the property investments, went down the tube, leaving them with no investment.

They now have to pay that 40%, which they have had, and put it into these investments.

For me HMRC, rightly have gone after it, and whilst its horrible for these players, it is tax payers money,

LIW…yeah at the end it came on the screen
“HMRC are required by Law to collect all taxes”

We all know the phrase “the only certainty in life is
death and taxes”…even for footballers!

Not seen it yet but I imagine the 40% tax deduction was for investing money into their pension? Maybe via the property portfolio that went belly up?

I know people who have lost money in property bonds and they were never told the risk level involved. As an ex financial adviser that stinks! However my brother in law and his Mrs never asked me for my thoughts before they jumped in with a friend they trusted - who is now a former friend. They leaned a hard lesson!

comment by Stoopo (U4707)
posted 8 minutes ago
Not seen it yet but I imagine the 40% tax deduction was for investing money into their pension? Maybe via the property portfolio that went belly up?

I know people who have lost money in property bonds and they were never told the risk level involved. As an ex financial adviser that stinks! However my brother in law and his Mrs never asked me for my thoughts before they jumped in with a friend they trusted - who is now a former friend. They leaned a hard lesson!


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Well if you haven’t seen it yet, Stoopo, I’m sure you
will find it very interesting.
Among the surprises to me was how it easy it was
to forge signatures on documents, by the investment
company…they really bamboozled naive footballers
who had given them their trust.

A handwriting expert looked at the signatures and was
in no doubt the signatures of the players were forged.
As an ex financial advisor did you ever come across
signatures that were forgeries?

Very surprising to me was that the forgeries by the
investment company were never brought to face
charges!

comment by Stoopo (U4707)
posted 25 minutes ago
Not seen it yet but I imagine the 40% tax deduction was for investing money into their pension? Maybe via the property portfolio that went belly up?

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No offence but saying you were a financial adviser, and then take a complete and utter guess, and been completely wrong about it being a pension thing, is quite incredible.

I'm not saying people shouldn't invest in things......but see if you do, there's a chance you might won't ever see that money again.....and on top of that, if you don't really know what it actually is you are investing in, it's maybe a better idea not to part with your money in the first place.

I do find it really really hard to have sympathy for these guys ....they were sold a lemon, but at the end of the day, the decision to part with their money rested with them, and they did it, so for me it's on them.

It's like the stories you hear these days about "romance fraud"...where folk fall in love over the internet then suddenly money starts being asked for to help the lover out of a situation or that.....if you are stupid enough to send the cash, can only really blame yourself.

I feel the same thing applies with this