The Real Housewives of Cheshire star Tanya Bardsley – who is married to former Premier League defender Phil Bardsley – wasn’t impressed with his initial chat-up line
The Real Housewives of Cheshire star Tanya Bardsley – who is married to former Premier League defender Phil Bardsley – wasn’t impressed with his initial chat-up line The Real Housewives of Cheshire star Tanya Bardsley – who is married to former Premier League defender Phil Bardsley – wasn’t impressed with his initial chat-up line
It took a while for Tanya Bardsley, wife of ex-Premier League star Phil Bardsley, to warm to her future husband.
Their love story began with a flat-out rejection, sparked by a seven-word text that Tanya, understandably, turned her nose up at. At that time, she was gracing the cover of legendary lad mag FHM, and wasn’t all that into football.
Bardsley, meanwhile, was a young Manchester United hopeful, with big dreams of making it to the first team – and winning over a glamour model, it seems. After managing to get Tanya’s number, he sent her a not-so-irresistible text message, which, as you’d expect, didn’t go down particularly well.
“I’m Phil, I play for Man U,” the text read, which in terms of online flirting, was hardly Shakespeare. Tanya’s reply was a brutal takedown: “Never heard of you.”
For most, this would spell the end, but not for Bardsley. With the same tenacity he showed on the football field, he didn’t throw in the towel. It took three years – and presumably some improved pick-up lines – before Tanya finally agreed to meet him, during a night out she’d already planned with some mates.
“I was going to a club with my friends and told him to just come there,” Tanya, best known for starring on The Real Housewives of Cheshire, told The Times. After nine years of dating, the couple tied the knot in 2014 and now have four children.
Over the years, Tanya developed a taste for luxury cars, and even asked Phil to buy her a Bentley as a “push present”, and a Lamborghini Urus for her 40th birthday. But the ever-sensible Phil has since encouraged her to be a little more financially prudent.
“I have learnt more about money since and would make different choices today,” she said. “Luckily my husband is sensible with money and runs a very tight ship.”
Bardsley left United in 2008 after 15 years on the club’s books. He played just 18 times for the senior side, having spent the bulk of his final years at Old Trafford out on loan.
He joined Sunderland, where he spent six-and-a-half seasons, before moving to Stoke in 2014. After that, he joined Burnley and later Stockport, eventually hanging his boots up in 2023.
Mirror – Sport