Premier League Legend Returns to Find Three Page 3 Models Waiting

A Premier League legend once had the shock of his life when he returned home from training to find three stunning Page 3 girls in his house.

Former England striker Bobby Zamora, who turned 45 on Friday, was clearly a man in demand when he dated 2000s glamour model favourite Nicola Tappenden - better known as Nicola T - in the early noughties, as he forged a career in the top-flight at Tottenham and then West Ham.

Nicola, who became a Page 3 girl after entering a contest in 2002, had quit her job at Citibank to pose topless in front of the cameras. With her fame came a number of turbulent relationships, and she admitted her self-doubt and low self-esteem followed her back in the day, including with a series of high-profile sporting names.

But after the model dated Zamora, she said the ex-Brighton & Hove Albion man was the one who initially showed her a life beyond her family home in Croydon and how a woman should be treated.

Nicola lauded the future Fulham forward as "normal, funny and kind" and described how she was taken aback by the "totally different kind of life" he lived in his Canary Wharf penthouse.

Recalling meeting Zamora for the first time, she said: "Two of my friends had stayed at his house, so they invited me over.

"He got in from football, and he was like, 'Oh my God! When I left there were two Page 3 girls in my house, and now there are three!'"

Nicola, who starred in the reality television show WAGs Boutique during her time with the future Queens Park Rangers ace, added she would always be "grateful" to Zamora for his normality and kindness towards her.

She then went on to date TV presenter Jeff Brazier, but claimed their relationship was "unhealthy from the start".

Nicola recalled: "If I'd known then what I know now - about trauma, about myself - I never would have stayed. But I did, because I was desperate to be liked, to feel enough."

After her split from Zamora, she later dated another footballer, in the shape of former Championship midfielder Simon Walton, who had starred for clubs including Leeds United, Ipswich Town and Plymouth Argyle.

The couple have a daughter, Poppy, born in 2008, when they also got engaged. She went on to star in the 2010 edition of Celebrity Big Brother, when she was the sixth contestant evicted.

But when asked if she would recommend becoming a WAG, Nicola gave a very firm no. "The money is great for those lads but if you could get the same amount and have a nine-to-five job, I'd say f*** the football," she said.

"And I'm telling you now, if anything ever happens between me and Simon, I'll never look at another footballer. I think it's a bit of a curse on a relationship."