‘Back then, the media needed to be fed with pictures of the girls going for a run or something like that, and it was going on the front page’ Joe Cole looks back on how the press created the 2006 WAG culture

WAGs.

England’s 2006 World Cup campaign in Germany was not short on subplots.

From the lofty pre-tournament expectations placed on the so-called Golden Generation to Wayne Rooney’s recovery from a metatarsal injury, the competition would ultimately end in another quarter-final exit, again on spot kicks.