The cricketing world is buzzing with questions following England’s assistant coach Paul Collingwood’s sudden withdrawal from the Ashes team, citing ‘personal reasons.’ His last public appearance was in New Zealand last December. Reports from the Daily Mail suggest that England’s inaugural World Cup-winning captain might not return to the squad’s coaching staff.
Leaked Photos and Tapes
A mere 56 days into his temporary head coach role for a West Indies series, controversies began to surface. Photographs appeared showing him kissing a woman on a Barbados beach, coincidentally after England suffered a significant 10-wicket defeat in the third Test. The controversy deepened in April 2023 when former teammate Graeme Swann publicly discussed an explicit audio recording allegedly featuring Collingwood. Swann, on the Rig Biz Podcast, described the two-hour-long clip as “pure Collingwood” and evidence of him being a “great tourist,” though specifics about its origin remain unclear.
The 2007 Strip Club Incident
In 2007, just a day before captaining England in a crucial T20 World Cup match against South Africa (where he was out for a golden duck), Collingwood was captured by cameras at Mavericks, a Cape Town strip club. This was particularly notable as he had married his wife in the same city only two years prior. Collingwood’s explanation was that he was “taken to an inappropriate bar” and left “immediately” upon realizing the nature of the establishment. He received a £1,000 fine, and the incident was subsequently closed.
Significant Tax Fraud Allegations
Further compounding his public issues, Collingwood recently faced a major legal defeat against HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). He has been ordered to pay a substantial tax bill of £196,000 (approximately ₹2 crore). This penalty stems from a prolonged investigation into his use of a personal services company, “PDC Rights,” through which he allegedly routed sponsorship earnings to reduce his tax burden. Despite an earlier case being dropped in 2009, HMRC revisited the matter, concluding that payments from major brands like Slazenger and Clydesdale Bank should have been declared as self-employment income. Collingwood’s recent appeal failed, requiring him to pay the entire sum. It’s believed he was attending to these tax affairs in London, which coincided with his absence from England’s summer match against Zimbabwe.