A former glamour model who famously was seen partying with England’s John Terry ahead of the Euro 2012 competition said she would never marry a footballer as she ‘knows what they are really like’.
Carla Bellucci, who is now a 41-year-old mother-of-four spent much of the noughties hanging out with top stars such as Terry, Ashley Cole and Jermaine Defoe.
‘I put the naughty into the noughties,’ she proudly exclaimed.
She believes Gareth Southgate’s men are too uptight and need to relax in order to succeed in Germany.
Although, she suggested that she has no interest in meeting the current crop of footballers as they are all so ‘bland’.
Ten years ago, Carla said footballers would regularly hand over between £10,000 and £15,000 in cash to a girl they would like to party with to ensure she would not reveal what happened afterwards.
‘Maybe maybe they’d let off some steam, especially if they had some hot glamour girls like we were back in the day. It’s all very restricted. Maybe they need to let something loose, do you know what I mean?
‘If they let it out, they might be able to get more goals in the net.’
Following a tedious ‘bore draw’ in Cologne, where Gareth Southgate’s men held on against Slovenia – who are 57th on the World Rankings – below the likes of Saudi Arabia and Iraq, fans booed the team and threw empty plastic beer glasses at Southgate at the end of the game.
For Carla, there’s a lack of a spark in the current team. Ahead of Euro 2012, fans expected again that ‘Football’s Coming Home’ with a talented team blending experience and youth with players who had mantle pieces laden with silverware.
‘I was partying with John Terry in Tiger Tiger in London. We just partied hard… he was full of it. It was full on. I just wanted a good time.
‘Social media wasn’t as big back then, and the only thing we avoided were paparazzi. You know the footballers wanted to party with glamour girls. They could get away with more, couldn’t they?
‘I think on and off the pitch I could get away with more, you know. Now everything’s scrutinised. Everything’s like whatever they get up to is printed, or before even the next day, you know. So I think it’s just a whole different ball game. I don’t think they party like they used to.
‘I think they’re a lot more scared of getting caught out, but they’re, you know… s*** went down, you know. It just went down.
‘I had friends that were – I’m not going to like name names – but they were like given money to be quiet.
‘You know. You were even offered. I was offered, you know you offered money to be quiet. If you were going to go away with somebody, you would be offered money to keep schtum, you know.
‘That’s how it was back then, we just had a good time. We made some money. It sounds really bad but we weren’t prostitutes or anything, we were just looking for a good time. It was always going to be a good party.
‘And you know what went down stayed there, you know. Nobody had their mobile phones time. Obviously I managed to get in the odd picture, but that was all I got because your phones were taken.
‘People just wanted to have fun, and it was just different then. We just wanted fun and glamour girls and footballers just went hand in hand. It’s like they fished us out. If you were in a club or a pub they could literally just fish out the glamour girls. It’s like they just knew who you were.
‘We just wanted fun. We just wanted to drink champagne, get annihilated and have a good time.’
She said the girls would not speak about their encounters as they were afraid of getting sued, especially after accepting money.
‘The thing with glamour girls, especially back in the day, we were out to make good money and have money doing it. It was pretty harmless.
‘How it is today is just so different, I sound like I’m 100, you know, but the way it is now is just such a different world.’
Carla said what appears on social media is not real, unlike the situation in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
She said social media has ruined trust and can be easily faked.
‘They seem a bit boring now. I don’t know if they are. They’re probably really not, but it all seems a bit boring to what it used to be, and maybe it is because they’re under strict orders from the manager, but maybe they should get loose and get further by scoring more goals. ‘The team can come together more and they should bond.’
Carla said she never came across a jealous WAG despite partying with many footballers.
‘I’ve heard rumours about certain people that didn’t like me back in the day because of the partying.’
But she believes that WAGs are prepared for their husbands to be unfaithful. Even today she claims that married players attempt to ‘slide into’ her DMs to make outrageous propositions.
‘I just think they sign up for it. People asked me why I didn’t marry a footballer.’
She said: ‘As a glamour model I know what I would have to put up with. I’ve seen what goes down, and I want to put up with that as a woman. No disrespect to them. I get it. The lifestyle’s good, but I wear my heart on my sleeve a bit. I wouldn’t want that. So that’s why I didn’t ever attempt to actually date or marry a footballer because of that reason. When you marry one, I think you know what you have signed up to. I don’t think these women are naive.
‘On the one side a footballer will say, “oh, yes, I’m happily married family man”, and then they are off partying. If they think they can get away with it, they will do it.
‘Today, footballers will side into your DMs and proposition you. They’ll send out a taxi to pick you up and then another to drop you home afterwards.
‘You’d look at who the player is and realise “oh my God, they’re married.” If they use Snapchat the messages will delete themselves.
‘They will send you a DM and ask if you are “up for it”.
‘There’s no fun to it any more. It’s just like it’s as quick as that, isn’t it? Whereas before I think you’d have to buy girls a drink. In our day we’d want the party. We’d want the hyper, but we’d want to be out in the club. We’d be all over London.’
According to Carla, anyone seeking to meet footballers should be realistic in their expectations.
‘Do it and make as much money as you can. If that’s what you want to do. Go for it, but you are literally just a notch on a bedpost to them.’