A former Doncaster Rovers star is among a group of top-flight footballers who say they lost tens of millions of pounds because of their financial advisers.

Brian Deane, who played for Rovers in the 1980s before going on to play in the Premier League, is part of the V11 campaign group, which comprises 11 footballers who invested with Kingsbridge Asset Management in the 1990s and 2000s.

Danny Murphy, Michael Thomas and Rod Wallace are also part of the group.

David McKee and Kevin McMenamin, who ran Kingsbridge, say they "deny any wrongdoing".

Ex-Doncaster Rovers player Brian Deane is among hundreds of footballers who lost millions in investments.

placeholder image — Ex-Doncaster Rovers player Brian Deane is among hundreds of footballers who lost millions in investments.

They told the BBC: "At all times, Kingsbridge advised in good faith and set out the risks and opportunities both before and after any investment was agreed."

Up to 200 footballers may have been affected, with some losing their homes and being made bankrupt.

They are now being chased for millions more in tax, despite being told by City of London Police they were "victims of crime".

Details of the story have been reported by the BBC in Football's Financial Shame: The Story of the V11 which shows how coming together as a team helped the group survive and gave them the conviction to go public.

It is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

Deane, who scored the first Premier League goal in 1992, tells the programme: "We should have felt protected.

"Kingsbridge seemed to be in line with what everybody wanted at the time, which was to have somebody looking after your finances for when you finished playing."

Kingsbridge Asset Management was founded in Nottingham by McKee and McMenamin in the same year as the Premier League.

Its website boasted a client list of more than 360 footballers.

"If they got the most influential person in the changing room, you thought you were in a safe place," said Deane.

City of London Police opened an investigation in 2018, after the issue was referred to them by Andy Burnham - now Mayor of Greater Manchester.

Two men from the East Midlands were arrested.

But, two years later, the investigation was closed, with the force concluding there was "insufficient evidence to support a realistic prospect of conviction".

City of London Police said: "The decision... was made at commander level and... was also endorsed in a strategic investigation review by a senior officer from an external force."

No charges have ever been brought against Kingsbridge staff, including McKee and McMenamin, and they deny any wrongdoing.

The V11 group are campaigning for a change in the law to protect victims of crime from serious tax charges.

It was assembled by Carly Barnes-Short - a solicitor and former criminal defence lawyer.

"We have team captains, Premier League title holders, Champions League winners, FA Cup winners," she said. "This is a group of extraordinarily successful players."

Her aim, together with the 11 retired footballers - not all of whom wanted to go on the record about their experiences - is to change the law to protect victims of crime from serious tax charges.

"It comes back to what we did as players," said Deane. "It was a team, and that's where we've gained the strength from."

Deane made his debut for Doncaster Rovers in the 1985–86 season and went on to play 66 times for them in the Third Division, scoring 12 goals, before they were relegated at the end of 1987–88 season.

He was then sold to Sheffield United, just relegated from the Second Division, for a fee of £25,000.

He scored the first goal in the FA Premier League for Sheffield United against Manchester United after five minutes on 15 August 1992.