Former England football star Trevor Sinclair has been made bankrupt after ‘burying his head in the sand’ over a £36,000 tax debt.
The winger, who played for QPR, West Ham and Man City, won 12 England caps during his lucrative football career before becoming a commentator on TV and radio.
But he was yesterday made bankrupt by HMRC after failing to pay taxes and penalties totalling £36,424 in relation to his pundit work.
The 52-year-old had previously been given extra time to come up with the money or alternative proposals to pay, but didn’t turn up at court and was declared bankrupt.
Judge Caroline Wilkinson said HMRC had received no contact from the former star and concluded that he was ‘unable to pay his debts as they fall due.’
The case previously reached Central London County Court in April when the judge heard that Mr Sinclair ended up owing a sizeable chunk of cash to the taxman after his accountant died.
The amount owed relates to the 2021 to 2022 tax year and includes two large sums of more than £13,000, plus outstanding National Insurance and penalty payments, HMRC lawyers said.
The taxman had wanted a bankruptcy order, with HMRC barrister Shabab Rizvi saying: ‘The debtor is a former Premier League footballer and should have the means to satisfy the debt, but there’s been no contact with HMRC at all.’
Trevor Sinclair, 52, is pictured arriving at court in 2017 with his wife Natalie
The winger, who played for QPR, West Ham and Man City, won 12 England caps during his lucrative football career before becoming a commentator on TV and radio
The ex-winger won 12 caps for England – including four in the 2002 World Cup – as well as Match of the Day’s ‘Goal of the Season’ in 1997
However, the case was adjourned to give him more time to pay after his lawyer Robert Lee told the court Mr Sinclair was working in the media and ‘currently in receipt of a job offer in Saudi Arabia.’
He said the debt arose from Sinclair ‘being considered self-employed when he ought not to have been’.
Giving him the extra time in April, Judge Wilkinson warned the former footballer he had to face the reality of his situation, commenting: ‘Mr Sinclair has to wake up to the fact that there’s no more head in the sand because this is serious’.
But when the case returned to court yesterday, the HMRC barrister disclosed that Sinclair had again failed to show up, asking the judge to confirm HMRC’s bankruptcy petition.
‘The last hearing was adjourned in order for proposals to be put forward by Mr Sinclair, but we have received no contact from him since then and nor have any proposals been put forward,’ she said.
Judge Wilkinson, making the bankruptcy order, said the case had been paused for Mr Sinclair to consider pursuing an alternative to bankruptcy such as an ‘individual voluntary arrangement’.
‘Mr Sinclair is not in attendance today and no proposals have been put forward for paying his debt,’ she continued.
Former England star Trevor Sinclair (pictured arriving at court with his wife Natalie in 2017) has been made bankrupt after ‘burying his head in the sand’ over a £36,000 tax debt
Once he retired from the field, Mr Sinclair went into punditry but faced setbacks after his drink driving case in 2017 and his controversial tweet in 2022
‘In the circumstances, the court finds that Mr Sinclair is unable to pay his debts as they fall due and it will make the bankruptcy order.’
Sinclair played four times for England at the 2002 World Cup and also scored the Match of the Day goal of the season in 1997 for a spectacular bicycle kick for QPR against Barnsley.
He retired in 2008, but his later career as a TV and radio pundit tailed off when he questioned why ‘black and brown people’ were mourning the late Queen in 2022.
Fans were quick to criticise to criticise Sinclair’s social media post and he was taken off the air by talkSPORT.
Sinclair’s now deleted Tweet read: ‘Racism was outlawed in England in the 60’s & it’s been allowed to thrive so why should black and brown mourn!!’.
This followed an earlier setback in 2018 when he was convicted of drink driving and racially abusing a police officer.
Sinclair injured a woman while drunk driving in Lytham St Annes in Lancashire the previous year.
He was subsequently charged after he urinated in a police car and racially abused a police officer, calling him a ‘white ****’.
