THE newer WAGs on the football scene are celebrities in their own right – think Little Mix’s Perrie Edwards, or pop sensation Taylor Swift who has become an NFL WAG in the space of a few weeks.
But who are the most iconic WAGs? Tina Moore was the OG, whereas Victoria Beckham is right at the top of the list, alongside Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy.
Despite calls for the WAG-tag to be dropped as it defines women through the career of their husbands, Sam is championing the WAGs of past and present and insists many of the women on the sidelines have been "special".
As the UEFA Euro 2020 competition continues, strict rules saw players flown to their matches in corona bubbles with strict orders not to party and other protocols to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
England manager Gareth Southgate has even made his team a WAG-free zone.
It’s a very different look from the 2006 World Cup, held in Germany, where the likes of Abbey Clancy, Cheryl Cole, Coleen Rooney and Victoria Beckham proudly cheered their men on from the stands.
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But historic England player Tom Finney, still one of the greatest players with 187 goals, would have recognised the blackout.
The England WAGs were so invisible that even when he and his wife Elsie got married in Preston in 1945, "There was nothing in the papers" he said, "Elsie worked at a Preston steam laundry. I think we went to Blackpool for our honeymoon."
She writes: "From the influential to the forgettable, from the glamorous to the sophisticated, and from the happily-married to the luckless in love, no two WAGs crafted their images in exactly the same way.
''Many even became more famous than their husbands, and some even richer.
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"The fact that we talk about WAGs at all is a tribute to the strength and character of these women who do not for a moment stand in the shadow of their footballers."
So who’s the greatest of them all?
The below is an exclusive extract from WAG WARs, the Glamour Story of Footballers’ Wives (Gibson Square) publishing in July.
Tina Moore: the first WAG
Tina Moore launched the WAG phenomenon, meeting Bobby Moore, a rising star at West Ham, at the age of 15 in 1957. The Moores married in 1960 and supported each other through Bobby’s battle with cancer in the early 1960s.
At the 1966 World Cup, Tina did not play as visible a role as the future WAGs of the 2000s, leading excursions for the players’ wives and attending dinners separate from the victorious England squad.
However, Tina was soon accused of exploiting the perks of Bobby’s growing fame to launch her own modelling and writing career. The couple appeared to have a successful marriage, but Bobby Moore struggled with depression and a lack of purpose after Elton John, serving as chairman of Watford FC, appointed Graham Taylor as manager in 1976 rather than Moore.
Tina recalled how she ‘physically collapsed’ when Bobby fell for another woman, and she continued to love Bobby for years after their separation.
Danielle Souness: the unluckiest WAG
The first wife of Liverpool captain Graeme Souness, Danielle struggled with her husband’s failure to put family before football and walked out of the marriage after five years in 1989.
"It was his obsession with football that killed our relationship", Danielle later said and although claiming not to resent Graeme, publicly accused him of being a "dirty rat".
For her explosive revelations to the Mirror, Danielle was paid £20,000 but the split turned acrimonious as the couple aired their dirty laundry in court. Danielle’s resentment of Graeme’s stylish new wife and tabloid darling, Karen Levy, became public and the two WAGs competed to outmanoeuvre one another in the fashion stakes at court.
Despite her apparently luxurious lifestyle in Majorca, Danielle found herself dependent on legal aid and Graeme was awarded £750,000 in damages. The former couple agreed to cease hostilities in 1999, but Danielle felt that he had left her to "gather dust" in their marriage.
Karen Souness: the most stylish WAG
Evicting his first wife, Danielle, Liverpool’s Souness moved into a £1 million home with Karen Levy, an actress and Bond girl often compared to George Best’s first wife Angie, one of the other WAGs of the eighties. ‘
"When the younger model your ex dumped you for is a one-time Bond Girl, life really is a b***h," the Sunday Mirror commented.
Karen used glamour and image to quickly hook the attention of the newspapers during the Sounesses’ legal battles, quickly replacing Danielle – four years her senior – in the media’s affections.
Like Karren Brady, the future wife of Stoke City’s Paul Peschisolido and managing director of Birmingham City, Karen Souness represented a new kind of WAG for the 1990s – one that had a successful career and was seen as intelligent, sophisticated and independent, a force to be reckoned with in her own right.
Sheryl Gascoigne: the original WAG
The original WAG who paved the way for those to come, Sheryl Gascoigne endured a turbulent marriage to the Tottenham Hotspur and Rangers midfielder Paul ‘Gazza’ Gascoigne in the 1990s.
Sheryl struggled with Gazza’s lifestyle and alcoholism, as well as loneliness and while Gazza disliked media attention, Sheryl used newspapers to tell her side of the story.
The newspapers loved the glamorous Sheryl and often joined her family in imploring her to end the marriage, especially after Gazza abandoned her for a heavy night out while she was in labour.
After the couple divorced in 1998 following countless breakups, Sheryl forged her own successful career, publishing an autobiography and appearing on I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!.
Victoria Beckham: the most famous WAG
Perhaps the most famous and influential of all, Victoria Beckham rose to fame as Posh Spice years before her lavish marriage to the future England captain David Beckham in 1999.
The couple bought a £2.5million Hertfordshire mansion, christened Beckingham Palace in the press. And after the disbanding of the Spice Girls, Beckham enjoyed a solo music and modelling career and became a reality TV star in her own right.
Beckham was declared Queen of the WAGs at the 2006 World Cup but forged her own success, shooting a number of documentaries and writing books while raising children.
In the 2010s, Beckham cemented her reputation as an internationally-recognised fashion designer, writer and model, launching collections in clothing, cosmetics and eyewear – as well as a humanitarian and campaigner.
Today, Beckham – who was awarded an OBE in 2017 – is one of the most famous and instantly recognisable women in Britain, rarely remembered for her WAG days in the early 2000s.
Coleen Rooney: WAG for life?
Coleen McLoughlin met her future husband, the Manchester United and England forward Wayne Rooney, at the age of 12. Aged just 20, Coleen was propelled into the WAG world at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, where the England squad’s wives grabbed the attention of the media with their lavish shopping sprees.
OK! Magazine secured rights to the Rooneys’ wedding pictures for £2.5million in 2008, but the relationship had not been plain-sailing as the footballer has allegedly had several dalliances with a whole host of women throughout their 21-year dating history.
It was at a similar time that Coleen had decided to pursue her own media career, releasing a range of books and an exercise DVD, and fronting advertising campaigns for Littlewood’s and George at Asda.
Rooney devoted the 2010s to raising her four children, but is back under the media spotlight over her legal dispute with Rebekah Vardy since 2019.
Victoria Beckham is perhaps the only other WAG to hold the attention of the press for such a prolonged amount of time.
Cheryl: the best WAG
Refusing to conform to the stereotype of a trophy WAG, Cheryl has enjoyed a successful career as a recording artist, actor, model, TV judge and presenter in her own right.
Winning a spot in Girls Aloud on the 2002 reality TV contest Popstars: The Rivals, Cheryl met the Chelsea defender Ashley Cole aged 21 and the couple married two years later.
"Queen Victoria [Beckham] is on her way out," said the News of the World of the WAG set at the 2006 World Cup, "and there’s a new princess ready to take her crown." But Cole’s heavy clubbing and infidelity doomed the marriage and, earning more than her husband, Cheryl was able to file for divorce and a clean break in 2010.
Cheryl soon eclipsed her ex-husband’s star and her former WAG life, having begun a long association with Simon Cowell’s X Factor franchise and enjoying a platinum-certified recording career.
After being declared the second most powerful celebrity in Britain in 2010, Cheryl reached national treasure status, and was proclaimed a "Princess Diana for the X Factor generation" by the Telegraph.
Rebekah Vardy: #WAG
While slightly older than Cheryl and Coleen Rooney, Vardy was not a member of the 2006 WAG posse and only wed Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy in 2016.
Twice-married before fame, Vardy was catapulted into the reality TV spotlight in 2017 as a contestant on I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! and panellist on Loose Women.
A WAG for the Twitter age, Vardy was accused by Rooney of leaking information about Rooney to The Sun, triggering the ongoing ‘Wagatha Christie’ dispute which has inspired viral memes and revived the WAG label.
Vardy’s lawyer claimed that, despite the "WAG wars" narrative in the press, Rooney’s allegations had badly damaged Vardy’s mental health and caused death threats to be sent to her.
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Vardy sued Rooney for defamation and won £23,000 in damages. Rooney has both signalled her desire for a resolution and her intention to "see this through to the bitter end", demanding that Vardy confess to leaking the stories.
You can find Sam’s book, WAG WARS: The Glamour Story of Footballers' Wives at your nearest bookshop here or buy it at WHSmith here.
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