JOHN BARNES has revealed that he pays the taxman £10,000 every month.The England legend, 61, faced the threat of bankruptcy having previously amassed debts of £1.5million.GettyJohn Barnes has opened up on his financial issues[/caption]GettyBarnes, 61, is one of England’s most beloved players ever[/caption]Barnes has spent the last eight years paying back HM Revenue & Customs.But earlier this month it emerged that he was facing a new bankruptcy threat.Appearing on the All Things Business podcast, Barnes was asked about the impact that his financial woes have had on him.The Liverpool icon said: “Apart from a few sleepless nights it hasn’t had a major impact on me because you look at the way the world is.“You look at people struggling much worse than me.“As long as I’m able to work and pay, and as much the work I’m doing is to get money to pay off (the taxman), as I’m doing now paying £10,000 a month, which means that I don’t earn £20,000 a month, which means that I’m going to have tax issues down the line.“But I’ve whittled it down, I thought I had whittled it down to one year so this new thing is a bit of a blow.”On how things went wrong with his finances, Barnes added: “I was making a lot of money, I was the first £10,000 a week footballer and benefited from that for a few years.“Like a lot of elite sportspeople, I got burned because I trusted people, I got caught out a couple of times and ended up losing between £1m and £1.5m over four years.“In 2017, I began talking to HMRC about what I could do to repay what I owed.” Barnes also vowed that he has been committed to paying back the taxman, and that he is determined not to declare bankruptcy.The Three Lions favourite added: “I know how hard it is for people out there. I don’t want to say there are loopholes, or that I can get away with this or that, or have people think I can be made bankrupt and keep my assets, because I’ve already sold everything.“I don’t have any assets.“But every time something new comes up, stories appear in the press saying negative things about how I am not paying my taxes, even though I’m going to court, not to be made bankrupt, but to ask for permission to keep paying.“Football is a working-class sport, and I don’t want hard-working people thinking I’ve got all this money and I won’t pay tax. It would be easy to be made bankrupt because they can’t take anything else from me.”The most recent liquidators’ report on Barnes’ media company showed he owed HMRC £776,878 in unpaid VAT, NI and PAYE.He also owed unsecured creditors £461,849, a directors loan worth £226,000, and liquidators’ costs of £56,535.Barnes hung up his boots in 1999 following a glittering career with Watford, Liverpool, Newcastle, Charlton and England.The Three Lions icon subsequently went into management with Tranmere, Celtic and Jamaica, while he has also worked as a pundit and released a book in 2021.