When anyone reported Perroncel’s denials of relationships with anyone other than Bridge — which occasionally, they did — those anonymous sources piped up. “To say she’s a Chelsea girl is a bit of an understatement. By the time she got to John Terry, she’d achieved her own five-a-side football team,” said one particular unidentified “close friend”, choosing to speak in a tabloid-ready soundbite.
“A prostitute. Gold-digger. Slut,” Perroncel says, wearily. It’s now early August, more than six months since the scandal first broke and a couple of days before news of Peter Crouch’s alleged sexual transgressions makes the front pages, ensuring the Terry scandal is invoked once again. “There was a joke going round. It was, ‘What does Vanessa Perroncel say after sex?’” A bitter pause, before the punchline. “‘So do you all play for the same team?’” she laughs, angrily.