Millions Lost by V11 Footballers Group
Through ‘Financial Abuse’

V11, the campaign group of eleven former Premier League players, including Danny Murphy, Michael Thomas and Rod Wallace, is seeking justice and raising awareness of investment fraud.

Some of the players have been forced to sell their homes or faced bankruptcy, and each owes over £1 million in taxes, despite being told by the City of London Police that they were victims of crime. It is thought that up to 200 former footballers could be affected.

The men were advised by Kingsbridge Asset Management, a Nottingham-based firm set up by David McKee and Kevin McMenamin in 1992. The firm targeted high-profile and highly paid footballers, claiming they would help secure their financial futures after their playing careers ended.

• Government tax rules at the time allowed up to 100% write-off for film production costs, attracting high-net-worth individuals who wanted to defer taxes. Over time, the investments lost value, leaving players unable to pay their tax bill. These schemes cost the Treasury around £2 billion in lost revenue and were eventually scrapped.
• Players were encouraged to invest in property schemes, with a 40% tax rebate which could be deferred for 15 years. Unlike other off-plan property purchase scams we have covered previously, McKee and McMenamin were found to have owned some Spanish properties already, and then over-inflated their value before selling them on. McKee’s wife ran a property management company associated with the Spanish apartments; all considered a conflict of interest.
• Property investments in Florida were also sold at over-inflated prices, with promises of high rates of return of 15-20% which never materialised.
• Kingsbridge built a relationship with the League Managers Association (LMA), including administering its website, but also paying its chairman, Howard Wilkinson, to keep his shares in the company, even when they were decreasing in value. Outwardly, this added credibility and trust to Kingsbridge as a business and attracted more players.

Danny Murphy believes he lost roughly £5m because of “financial abuse”.

“We should have felt protected,” said Brian Deane.

“People will turn around and say they were just financial advisers,” Tommy Johnson said. “They weren’t, they were friends. These guys have ruined our lives.”

Rod Wallace, who bought shares in Kingsbridge Asset Management, was told that “they bombed”. He added, “We have to move on now because of an eviction notice, nothing in the bank. We won’t have anywhere to live.”

Craig Short said, “I had a huge mortgage on [a property in Florida] which I just couldn’t afford. The easiest thing for me to do was walk away, give the keys back.”

The BBC documentary highlights the impact investing with Kingsbridge has had on players’ lives. Alcohol misuse, depression and anger were mentioned, as well as the strength and support gained from forming the V11 group.

McKee and McMenamin from Kingsbridge deny any wrongdoing. They claim to have given financial advice in “good faith and set out the risks and opportunities both before and after any investment was agreed”.

They added, “Any losses suffered by clients… are deeply regrettable but were as a consequence of changes in HMRC policy and the worldwide property market collapse in 2008.”

Kingsbridge ceased trading in 2010.

City of London Police investigated the case in 2018 but closed it two years later, saying there was insufficient evidence to support a conviction.

Now MPs are calling for a new investigation into the conduct of the advisers and the schemes involved, claiming this case was “a failure of regulation, accountability and duty of care”. Lord Mann, Alex Sobel MP and Sarah Bool MP, have all spoken out since the BBC documentary.

“This was not a case of greed or bad decisions,” they said. “These men did what we ask of everyone – they saved for their futures, trusted regulated professionals and followed advice they believed was sound.

“We believe that these victims have been failed by not only their advisers but also the financial services sector, by regulatory and law enforcement bodies, by HMRC, and by the football industry.”

It remains to be seen if there will be a “fair and timely resolution to the decade-long tax dispute” and a “leniency package put in place by HMRC”.