Summer 2006 belonged to the Wags. Unless you were lucky enough to spend the months between May and August in the most remote regions of the Himalayas you will know that "Wag" was the less than affectionate collective term for the wives and girlfriends of England's footballers during the World Cup.
Their all-night drinking sessions, marathon £60,000 shopping sprees and extravagant beauty regimes earned them unprecedented coverage across the globe. "These girls are hooligans with Visas," screamed the incandescent European press.
"The public were obsessed because the media deliberately stirred up an obsession," said the PR guru Max Clifford. "To sell papers you need a continual stream of new faces and the Wags were perfect because they were ordinary girls whose lives were touched by the extraordinary lives of their partners.
But six months on, which of the Wags has capitalised? The first to fall was
Abigail Clancy.
The 20-year-old was dumped by Peter Crouch during the tournament after pictures were circulated of her snorting cocaine. She was ostracised by the Wags but her relationship is back on and she turned her "drugs shame" to her advantage with confessional interviews and modelling shoots in GQ, OK! and FHM.
Less can be said for
Alex Curran,
Steven Gerrard's other half, who was ridiculed for her frumpy World Cup wardrobe and questioned by police after a guest was assaulted with an alcopop bottle outside a restaurant.
Pictures of a bikini-clad
Carly Zucker 
a perfectly formed brunette and personal trainer But Joe Cole's girlfriend has a lot to learn about what it takes to stay in the spotlight. Six months on, nothing has materialised and she has been ousted by the other Wags for being a shameless exhibitionist.
But it has not all been bad news for the Wags. Which have made the most of their World Cup exposure? In third place is
Cheryl Tweedy.
"Cheryl saw her place cemented in Wag aristocracy and fast-tracked her celebrity status with her high-profile wedding to Ashley Cole in a Beckham-style ceremony in July," Victoria Beckham rewarded Cheryl for her loyalty, friendship and deferential attitude with a personal introduction to the celebrity designer Robert Cavalli, who made her £110,000 wedding dress.
But even Cheryl's successes pale beside Super Wag
Coleen McLoughlin,
Wayne Rooney's fiancee. "There's no doubt that 2006 has been Coleen's year. With more advertising deals and magazine features than ever she's now a multimillion-pound brand in her own right. She's a worthy successor to Victoria Beckham," said Draude.
McLoughlin has a £1.5m contract to promote Asda and, after losing a stone since the World Cup, secured a deal with Diet Coke. With an existing £500,000 contract with LG Mobile and an estimated £6m in further advertising deals including a £1.5m deal with Nike to promote its womenswear, her reputation as a shrewd businesswoman is fast replacing her former one as a shopaholic.
But no one came close to taking
Victoria Beckham's crown.
Desperate to distance herself from the other Wags, she ditched her trademark hair extensions, copied by wannabes, for a cutting-edge bob. Then came the release of his'n'hers fragrances in August and the publication of her "fashion bible" That Extra Half an Inch. She elevated herself to A-List status by securing a ticket to Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes's celebrity wedding of the year.
But according to Clifford, 2007 may prove tough for the Queen Wag. "Watching if she remains in the top spot next year will be interesting," he said. "Her husband has been the superstar of football for seven years but this is rapidly fading - he's no longer captaining England, which takes off a bit of his golden glow and will make her shine a little less. Everything she's achieved has been through him. The real test will be when she no longer has his status to rely on."
