Former Chelsea and Man City star ‘faces threat of financial ruin’

Former England star Shaun Wright-Phillips is reportedly at risk of financial collapse after being slapped with a bankruptcy petition by HM Revenue and Customs. 

Wright-Phillips, the adopted son of England and Arsenal legend Ian Wright, had the petition lodged against by by HMRC at the High Court on Friday, according to The Telegraph. 

A HMRC petition is when the UK’s tax, payments and customs authority takes legal action over unpaid debts from an individual or business. 

Wright-Phillips, 43, racked up 315 appearances in the Premier League across spells with Manchester City, Chelsea, and Queens Park Rangers. 

He also turned out 36 times for England and was part of the squad for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. 

A source told The Telegraph: ‘Shaun is not aware of this and matters are already with his accountant who is fully versed in Shaun’s affairs. 

‘He is currently out of the country and the matter will be strenuously contested on his return.’

Mail Sport has also contacted one of his representatives for comment.  

His record on Companies House, under the name of Shaun Cameron Wright-Phillips, shows ventures with six companies, five of which have been dissolved. 

The most recent of those, VisionPro Sports Europe, was dissolved in 2018. 

He is the current director SWP29, a ‘public relations and communications activities’ business, which was incorporated in January 2023.

By the end of its first year, the business owed £103,894 to creditors, but was also due £102,268 itself.

Wright-Phillips has launched himself into punditry since retiring in 2019, landing gigs with the BBC, Sky Sports, ITV, TNT Sports, talkSPORT, and Amazon. 

His most recent engagement was working for DAZN and Channel 5 for Manchester City’s 6-0 thrashing of Al-Ain.

The relative majority of the games he has covered involve Manchester City, who he joined age 17. 

He spent six seasons with City before being moved on to Chelsea aged 23 – a move he didn’t want to make.

‘Maybe I was a little naive, but I thought I’d be at City for my whole career, he told FourFourTwo. ‘Then Chelsea made a bid for me and City said they were accepting it.

‘I took it as, “OK, obviously you don’t want me at the club any more”. On the way down to London, I cried like I was 12. I cried for an hour – I was emotionally broken. A few months later, I found out the truth behind what happened: City had no choice but to sell me, because they were possibly about to go into administration or something along those lines. Chelsea was a new chapter in my life.

‘I loved it there and the supporters were tremendous with me. I had some tough times, but they always cheered for me.’

He went on to win the Premier League and FA Cup with the London club before moving back to Man City after three full seasons. 

The rest of his career was spent at City, QPR, New York Red Bulls, and Phoenix Rising.

He and adopted dad Ian became the first father-son duo (albeit not by blood) to appear on Match of the Day together as pundits in 2023. 

Wright was 19 when he adopted Shaun, who was the son of his then-girlfriend Sharon Phillips.