Revealed: England WAGs' VERY boozy night out on eve of Golden Generation's disastrous 2006 World Cup campaign as waitress unearths receipt 20 YEARS later

This was finally England's year. The Golden Generation were one day away from beginning their bid to end what was, back then, 40 years of hurt. It was the eve of the 2006 World Cup in Germany and expectations hung heavy on the players who were billed to bring football back home.

But while the likes of Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard were likely tossing and turning with angst in their hotel room at their luxury castle resort in the Black Forest, little did they know their other halves were ten miles away starting a party that would not stop over the course of the next month.

Coleen Rooney (formerly McLoughlin) and Alex Gerrard, the now wives of two of England's top talents in that team, were at Garibaldi's in the German spa town of Baden-Baden, the bar that would become the hub for drama over the course of the next three weeks.

There have long been tales of the droves of champagne, cocktails and spritzers that the wives and girlfriends of the England squad would consume during crazy nights out during the tournament 20 years ago. Many of them were caught on camera by the frenzy of paparazzi that would follow them everywhere.

Garibaldi's was the epicentre for most of them and Daily Mail Sport has now seen a receipt from a WAGs night out at the bar on June 9, 2006, the night before England's Group B opener with Paraguay, in which they scraped a rather lacklustre 1-0 win. 

Now, 20 years later, a waitress called Leslie's recent deiscovery of a receipt while clearing out her loft has reignited memories of her evening waiting on Coleen, Alex and David Beckham's sister Joanne.

Daily Mail Sport has been shown a receipt from a WAGs night out at Garibaldi's on June 9, 2006

Alex Curran (middle left), Joanne Beckham and Coleen Rooney (far right) are believed to have notched up a bill of  €643.50 (now worth €1,000) on the eve of the 2006 World Cup

'I can't believe I've kept it all these years,' she told Daily Mail Sport. 'My daughter thinks it's hilarious that I still have it.'

The receipt shows that the WAGs ran up a bill of €643.50, which would equate to €1,000 (£846.50) in modern society, due to the average annual inflation rate over the past two decades standing at 2.23 per cent.

Coleen, Alex and Beckham's sister bought seven bottles of Moët & Chandon Champagne, with each of the 750ml bottles roughly serving five to six glasses.

Also on the receipt, it shows that nine vodka Red Bulls, six Radeberger pilsners and a total of 12 shots of different types of spirits were ordered. The trio put down spirits such as Bacardi, sambuca and tequila, which alone cost them €72 at the time.

This night was the first of many similar. The WAGs were the talk of the town during a World Cup that would go down as a complete failure, with Sven-Goran Eriksson's side crashing out on penalties to Portugal in the quarter-finals. It has become somewhat part of footballing folklore.

It was the real birth of the WAG phenomenon they dominated football news coverage back home more than their husbands and boyfriends did. With the team struggling and limping through the tournament, the real focus switched to their partners' exploits in Baden-Baden.

The Daily Mail's Chief Sport's Writer Oliver Holt had a front row seat to watch it all. He, like many other sports reporters, were staying in the Brenners Park Hotel alongside the families of the England footballers. He described it as a 'bizarre and accidental social experiment' that should never, and 'will never' be repeated again.

It was never supposed to have happened. Journalists had been booked at the beautiful hotel on the edge of town, six months before the tournament, before the FA and Nancy Dell'Olio, the wife of then manager Eriksson, decided that that was where they wanted the players' wives and girlfriends to stay and made a block booking for them.

Coleen Rooney (formerly McLoughlin) pictured with beers during England's 1-0 win over Paraguay the day after her big night at Garibaldi's

Victoria Beckham (left), Coleen (middle), Louise Owen (second right) and Elen Rivas (Frank Lampard's then-fiance, furthest right) were part of the WAGs group in Baden-Baden

After discovering that journalists were staying there too, they attempted to cancel all of the reporters' bookings. Of course, management don't deal in that sort of sporting politics, so refused. It led to the madness that followed.

Victoria Beckham, Cheryl Cole, Abbey Clancy, Alex and Rooney were among the statement belt and designer shades-clad celebrities who made headline upon headline for not only their nights out, but famously their shopping sprees, too.

Just two days after their first night out on the lash in Baden-Baden, the WAGs were papped copping heaps upon heaps of designer clothes, sunglasses and shoes. German tabloids reported at the time that the combined total of the spree was a whopping €80,000 (£69,310).

Cameras followed them absolutely everywhere during the tournament, with Victoria splashed on pages of the newspapers seemingly every single day that summer. It proved to be a 'bad distraction' to the players, as former Three Lions midfielder Frank Lampard described it.

'That could have been dealt with better, looking back,' Lampard told FootballJoe in 2024. 'The media just lapped it up, din't they? And it took away from a group that was trying to prepare to try and win a tournament.' 

Rio Ferdinand, who played at the heart of the defence with John Terry for England, also famously launched a scathing attack against the wives and girlfriends 'culture' two years after England had been sent packing by Portugal. 

(L-R, middle row) Brooklyn Beckham, Cheryl Tweedy and Victoria Beckham celebrate during England's 2006 World Cup campaign 

'If I'm honest, we became a bit of a circus in terms of the whole Wag situation,' he said back in 2008. 'It seemed like there was a big show around the whole England squad. It was like watching a theatre unfolding and football almost became a secondary element to the main event.

'People were worrying more about what people were wearing and where they were going out, rather than the England football team. That then transposed itself into the team.' 

The 'WAG culture' Ferdinand spoke about is no more. All we saw of the new cohort during the most recent disappointment in the US, Mexico and Canda this summer was them smiling in the stands and supporting their partners. The chaos of Baden-Baden will never be repeated.