http://www.billcaldwell.com/acatalog/June_2006.html featured in the Sun 22/06/2006:8

1. Wag’s World: The Work of a Footballer’s Wife http://www.billcaldwell.com/acatalog/June_2006.html featured in the Sun 22/06/2006:8

2. The Wag “A typical Wag is recognised by her fake tan, hair extensions, oversized sunglasses and the arm-breaking, oversized designer bag she is carrying. Some Wags have managed to turn their status into a ‘job’. Wayne Rooney’s bride-to-be Coleen has a reported £8 million fortune thanks to a perfume range, book, TV and fitness DVD deals and a column in Closer magazine” (Sheridan 06/02/08 Daily Mail [online])

3. The Wag Phenomenon “There is also, of course, the whole WAG phenomenon, predicated almost entirely on a cynical pact between rich, bored, badly behaved men (Ashley Cole comes to mind) and the women who want to live off them. The gaggle of wannabe WAGs hovering outside any nightclub frequented by Premier League footballers is proof that there is an increasing number of women who believe that far from having their own life and their own job, the notion of being a human leech is to some degree a preferable career.” (Turner, Daily Mail 2008:36)

4. Job Description “Key skills, rather, are looking decorative in a cocktail dress and smiling politely at official functions. On no account should you attempt to interfere in matters of state - pre-match strategy and post-match analysis are strictly for the men - and you will be expected to socialise extensively with the other wives according to a strict hierarchical pecking order - deferring to the captain's and the manager's wives and patronising the younger and less successful wives.” (Cadwalldr Observer Sport Monthly June 2006:64)

5. Fired or Retired? “‘I couldn’t be one of those footballers’ wives who just accept them sleeping around because they live in a nice house and have designer handbags’….‘What if you get cheated on or beat up? What are you going to do then? Stay there for the Chloé handbag? I don’t think so.’” (Cheryl Cole in OK! Guiltenane 2007:51,53)

6. “the professor came into see me to tell me what it was first [shattered knee] and I was like umm well cos we thought he was just gonna say a little damage and he said he’s done this, he’s done that and he’s done this. He’s like if you could tell him I’d appreciate it and I’m like oh please and he just left and I’m like great thanks for that, so how? And he was my husband by then so now I’ve got to tell my new husband that his career is on hold” (Jackie)

7. “he finishes his career it’s not about him any more it’s going to be about me. Like I said we are going to have to move about for me now, it’s my job that determines where we stay and things like that. That’s probably the biggest thing that I look forward to.” (Kate)

8. “I’ve never met so many beauticians and hairdressers in my life like and there’s nothing wrong with that but it just seems to be because, I think the reason, I think it is, is because you need to fit in so much with their career you need all these jobs that move about easily……at least they are making the most of the situation and you can’t do more than that in football” (Kate)

9. “She’d say, oh it’s bizarre, because I say oh we’ve got a move, it’s obviously not we’ve got a move - he’s got a move and we’re going but she says like ‘we’ve had a pay rise’ it’s not we though is it? What have you done? She used to work in a bank like Natwest part-time and it was something like her kid used to go to, when she just had one, to nursery and her wages covered half the nursery fees she said oh there you are I’m bringing money into the house. You think you could live in a £500,000 house on that money and just things like that I find bizarre these girls are like giving themselves credit the whole thing’s just strange”. (Jackie)

10. “I really had to get used to that way of thinking and to think about the way to say things and maybe it’s [this area] maybe it’s the country, it’s not easy to make friends with the English in the beginning because they don’t let you in. So you know for my first four or five years all my friends were foreigners you know the foreign players” (Joanne)

11. “I’m good friends with [player’s wife], she’s a good friend of mine. I get on well with her but her husband was playing in [my partner’s] position when [he] got dropped you know and it’s still like you’re going to the games but really thinking ‘fuck up, fuck up’ because he makes a mistake, [my fiancé] gets back in but at the same time she’s your mate there…” (Lisa)

12. “you’re torn between looking like a stuck up bitch saying I now drive a Range Rover and I’ve got a credit card to go shopping, and they’re still doing the job that I was doing do you see what I’m saying” (Lisa)

13. “Do you have this glamorous life - no I don’t you know, I mean I have to bring the kids in to bed and I still go to the toilet and er you know you have to see me with my kids, especially being a pilates teacher. There’s nothing glamorous about me at all because I’m in my tracksuit everyday, I pick up the kids and I am so not glamorous. I can be glamorous” (Joanne)

14. “I see what you’ve got, you’ve got nice things but I wouldn’t want your life”