A "major motivation behind the growing calls for reform" of the Professional Footballers' Association is the "large number of recently retired players struggling with severe financial difficulties, despite having had lucrative careers in the game," according to David Conn of the London GUARDIAN. One accounting professional with "detailed knowledge of many players' financial problems" said that approximately 500 former players from the first generation to play in the Premier League may have lost up to £1B because of "disastrous investments" based on financial advice and U.K. tax authority HMRC demands following their involvement in "investment schemes promoted as tax-efficient." Research conducted in '13 by XPro "suggested that as many as 60% of former players, who earned huge salaries in their Premier League days, were declaring bankruptcy within five years of retiring." The "extent of financial problems" suffered by players "also underlies the resentment felt by many" over the £2.29M ($2.93M) annual salary earned by PFA CEO Gordon Taylor. Former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy said, "I know personally players struggling with mental health, addiction, financial abuse. You have to remember that we as Premier League players, we were at Premier League clubs, we were not protected by the PFA, not protected by the Premier League, when the IFAs [independent financial advisers] were coming into the football clubs and brainwashing us or manipulating us." Murphy pointed to the PFA's "very large annual income from its agreed share of the Premier League TV money," £26.6M last year, which is provided for players' welfare, and accused the union of "failing to spend it adequately where people are in great need." He said, "Since the TV money got big and players of my generation started retiring, problems have become bigger" (GUARDIAN, 11/19).
