‘Man Utd star noticed me on the quilt of FHM – I rejected him after his seven-word textual content message’
A former FHM cover girl says she rejected a Manchester United footballer after he reached out to her by text – though the pair ultimately ended up together and are now married
Tanya Bardsley might now be happily married to former Premier League footballer Phil Bardsley, but their love story kicked off about as smoothly as the punch he knocked out Wayne Rooney with.
In fact, their romantic journey started with rejection, thanks to a seven-word text message that Tanya couldn’t help but turn her nose up at. At the time, she was a regular for iconic lad mag FHM and had just been featured on the cover.
Bardsley, meanwhile, was a starry-eyed Manchester United prospect, fuelled by dreams of landing both a spot in the first team, and, apparently, a pin-up model girlfriend. Determined to connect with Tanya, who was the epitome of early-2000s glam, Bardsley tracked down her phone number and sent what he must have thought was a sure-fire opening line.
“I’m Phil, I play for Man U,” read the text, which, in the world of sliding into DMs, was caveman-levels of creative. Unimpressed, Tanya fired an ego-piecing response back: “Never heard of you.”
For most, that would have been game over. But Bardsley showing the kind of persistence that served him well on the pitch, refused to give up. It took three years – and, we assume, some slightly better chat-up lines – before Tanya finally agreed to meet him, albeit during an already-planned night out on the town with some pals.
“I was going to a club with my friends and told him to just come there,” Tanya remembered. Who says romance is dead? Fast-forward to today, and the couple, who tied the knot in 2014, have built a life together that includes kids, cars, and lessons learned about finances.
Tanya – best known for starring in The Real Housewives of Cheshire – was refreshingly candid about her love for luxury vehicles, revealing how she once asked Bardsley – who went on to play for Sunderland, Stoke and Burnley – for a Bentley as a “push present” and a Lamborghini Urus for her 40th birthday. But hindsight, as they say, is 20/20.
“I regret it now,” Tanya told The Times. “He offered to buy me a house to rent out at the time, and now I don’t have the car anymore.”
Their romance might have started amid the glitz and recklessness of youth – but it wasn’t long before Bardsley’s grounded sensibility ultimately steadied their whirlwind lifestyle and helped Tanya embrace a more balanced approach to life.
“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.”
Their story is a cheeky reminder that love doesn’t always start with sparks flying. Sometimes, it begins with an underwhelming text message and plenty of persistence. So the next time you’re tempted to lead with a boastful one-liner, remember: it might take more than seven words – and three years – to win someone over. Just ask Phil Bardsley.
