Debt and Denial: Return of the Wag Wars
Plus: golfing in Kirkby and what to watch this Halloween
Dear readers — Another Monday is upon us, and so is your weekly Post briefing. Abi’s finally returned from her travels, meaning Laurence’s attempts to turn this publication into The Wirral Post will be temporarily waylaid. In all seriousness, if you haven’t yet read Laurence’s highly engaging two-part series of essays on the Wirral — about its stalled plans for regeneration and its ongoing identity crisis — catch up below:
The Post
The Post
Abi is not the only local institution making a comeback. Today’s big story is on the return of Wagatha Christie, the dispute between Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy that apparently was not quite settled by a High Court trial in 2022. Vardy is trying to reduce the costs bill that ruling landed her with, and last week’s hearing was described as a “close-run thing” by media lawyer Jonathan Coad. Will this case be Vardy’s Waterloo, or will she finally triumph over our Liverpool lass Coleen?
Editor’s note: If you’re yet to sign up as a paying member of The Post, there has never been a better time to support our journalism. We have some exciting pieces in the works — including an investigation over four years in the making about two Knowsley brothers turned drug cartel kingpins. To make sure you don’t miss out, click the button below. Thank you!
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Debt and denial: return of the Wag Wars
Top line: Five years on from Coleen Rooney’s explosive social media post accusing Rebekah Vardy of leaking information to newspapers, the battle of the footballer’s wives has erupted once more. Both Vardy and Rooney returned to court this week for round two after Vardy launched a dispute over legal fees.
For those of you living under a rock (or those of you who may have mysteriously lost your phones in the sea, ahem), here’s how things went down:
Context: In 2019, Coleen — the wife of footballer Wayne Rooney — announced on X (formerly Twitter) that she had set a trap to catch the Instagram account that was leaking her private posts to The Sun. This trap involved creating a series of fake posts on Instagram, of which only a select few people she suspected of being the leak could see. Eventually, she narrowed these accounts down to just one profile: it was, of course, Rebekah Vardy (wife of footballer Jamie Vardy)’s account…
After Vardy was accused of being the leak, she decided to sue Rooney for libel, with the case coming to trial in early 2022. Here’s some of our highlights from that dramatic affair:
- In the trial, the judge ordered Vardy’s agent to surrender her phone so it could be searched for messages that could prove Vardy was the leak. Conveniently, her agent told the judge she had “regrettably” dropped her device in the North Sea…
- Vardy's laptop was also "disposed of" before the trial because it was "damaged beyond repair”.
- However, messages between Vardy and her agent did show them regularly discussing schemes to leak stories to newspapers. In one, Vardy types "I don't want it coming back on me," to which her agent answered, "I can tell someone."
- In the end, Vardy lost the trial and was ordered to pay a substantial proportion of Rooney's legal expenses as well as her own, estimated to be a total of £3 million.
A new legal battle: The drama doesn’t end there. Last week, Vardy's barrister returned to court to argue why that sum should be reduced.
- They claimed that Rooney's total legal bill from the 2022 case unfairly included costs for one of her lawyers staying "at the Nobu Hotel, incurring substantial dinner and drinks charges as well as mini-bar charges". Rooney's lawyer has since said the spending claims were "factually inaccurate".
- Vardy's team also claimed it was "unreasonable" for Rooney to use Stewarts, a more expensive London-based law firm, when she lives in Merseyside.
- They also claimed that it had been unreasonable for Rooney to consult her barrister on 30 occasions, at a cost of nearly £500,000.
The judge rejected these assertions, and found that Rooney's legal team had not committed any misconduct and Vardy should pay the full amount agreed in 2022. The following day, the judge ordered Vardy to pay Rooney £100,000 this month.
Bottom line: However, this battle is far from over yet. There will now be a line-by-line assessment of all the costs, which will take place next year. Of course, this means it is still possible that Vardy could end up reducing what she must pay to Rooney.
Yet disputing the fee is likely to see both sides invest much more in legal costs. As the judge last week said, with a tinge of exasperation: "The parties need to get on with this and put it behind them.”
Your Post briefing
Knowsley Council have approved a £20 million plan to further develop an 18-hole course at Kirkby Valley Golf Course. The land, owned by Liverpool City Council, was leased to L32 Trading Ltd (LTL) for 150 years in 2019. The initial 2021 application had been revised to minimise its impact on the greenbelt — because of their gargantuan water usage and high levels of toxicity from pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides, golf courses can have a detrimental impact on the wider environment. Currently, a year’s membership at the golf course with a joining fee will set you back £800. (Keep in mind that the 2022 Index of Multiple Deprivation revealed Knowsley had the highest proportion of its population living in income deprived households of any borough in England.) In an attempt to justify this development, LTL has estimated that 65 jobs will be created during golf course construction.
Homeless services across Liverpool have seen a rise in demand of around a third in the last year, despite council spending on homelessness increasing by 12,000% over the last five years. Meanwhile, YMCA Wirral CEO Nigel Hughes has highlighted the Victorian levels of poverty people face, saying “in some respects it’s got a lot worse” since the organisation was founded in 1874. Last year, the YMCA – based on Whetstone Lane in Birkenhead – helped nearly 700 people, and worked closely with Wirral Council to prevent rough sleeping.
Everton in the Community (EitC), the charity associated with Everton Football Club, will be staying put in the area around Goodison Park even after the club move to their new home on Bramley Moore dock. "It's a good community here so we're staying,” chief executive Sue Gregory told the BBC. EitC’s biggest project, the Blue Base Pantry — set up with Fans Supporting Foodbanks, St Andrew's Community Network, and Your Local Pantry in 2022 — attracts around 180 people every Thursday and helps members access cheap, fresh food each week.
Post Picks
🎃Begin your Halloween preparations this Friday with a fall wreath making session and autumnal dinner at Glass Onion. All arty materials are provided, but if you have any additional materials you’d like to secure to your wreath, feel free to bring those along too. Find out more here.
🎥Two film recommendations for you this week. In the spirit of spooky season, head to DoEs for a screening of Viy, the 1967 Soviet horror film, on Friday.
Or, if music is more your thing, try the British Music Experience on Thursday for Rudies Come Back, the energetic 1980 BBC film made right at the moment that 2-Tone and Ska were emerging.
🎸Abi’s rather excited about this one. 80s new wave band Squeeze head to the M&S Arena on Saturday, supported by Badly Drawn Boy. Grab a ticket while you can here.
Home of the week
This six bedroom home in Prenton is giving us serious garden envy. A southerly aspect with a sweeping lawn, raised decked area and feature pond, we think you’ll be the talk of the town hosting Bonfire Night celebrations in this space. It’s on the market for £600,000 — take the full tour here.
Recommended reads
As he’s now been mentioned in two of Laurence’s recent articles, how about this superb reflection on the forgotten Wallasey Modernist, Malcolm Lowry, in The Double Negative? Look out for an appearance by Gerard Fitzpatrick, the founder of Reid’s on Mount Pleasant — Liverpool’s best bookshop.
An interview from last year with Joel Murray, founder of Amorphic Music and — alongside Moonfrog, Harvest Sun Promotions, and the team at Quarry — one of the driving forces behind left-of-centre music on Merseyside. If you haven’t stumbled across it yet, Sun-13 is one of the best culture sites hailing from Liverpool.
Thanks to the FT for sponsoring today’s edition — get your discounted subscription now.
Note: In a previous version of this edition, we said a week’s membership at the Kirkby Valley Golf Course with a joining fee will set you back £800. This has now been amended to clarify that figure is a year’s fee entitling you to seven-day access.
