Former Liverpool and England defender turned TV pundit Jamie Carragher is facing a potential bankruptcy declaration over an outstanding tax bill estimated at £700,000 to £800,000.
BBC-sighted documents show a case was lodged on Wednesday against James Lee Duncan Carragher. The bankruptcy petition, brought by lawyers for HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), was first reported by City AM.
HMRC declined to comment on the individual case but said it aims to work constructively with taxpayers in debt—offering options such as instalment plans—and only pursues bankruptcy as a last resort.
Carragher, who played for Liverpool from 1996 to 2013, is a regular on Sky Sports’ Premier League coverage, the Stick To Football show, and CBS Sports’ Champions League broadcasts.
A spokesperson for Carragher told BBC Sport that the matter is a private tax issue that should have been resolved sooner, adding that steps are being taken to settle it today. They said they expect the case not to progress further and to be resolved imminently.
Carragher is not alone among former footballers to encounter tax problems after retiring. Ex-England internationals David James, Wes Brown, and Lee Hendrie have been declared bankrupt, while former Liverpool teammate Emile Heskey lost a 2024 legal challenge over an unpaid £1.637m tax bill. In 2025, Trevor Sinclair was made bankrupt after failing to pay tax of more than £36,000, and Shaun Wright-Phillips faced a bankruptcy petition from HMRC at London’s High Court.
Last September it emerged that as many as 200 footballers may have lost tens of millions of pounds, with some losing homes and being made bankrupt. Former England midfielder and current Match of the Day pundit Danny Murphy has said he believes he lost around £5m due to financial abuse.