Claudine Palmer

It's been a mixed week in Wag world. John Terry's wife Toni has fled to Dubai, while his illicit girlfriend Vanessa Perroncel ponders whether that press offer of £250,000 to spill the beans will rise any higher.

Even the literary world is exercised over the lives of women in relationships with professional footballers. Just published is Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism, in which author Natasha Walter despairs that Wags have become role models for young girls. In Wags at the World Cup, due out in May, author Alison Kervin reveals what life is like for these women away from the boutiques, nightclubs and parties.

"You can never confide your fears in the others," according to one wife, who, Kervin says, "always makes sure her legs are on show when she goes out so that men will look at her and her husband will realise what a catch she is."

But what of the couple dubbed Ireland's Posh and Becks? Does Claudine Keane, wife of Ireland captain Robbie who is now on loan to Celtic till the end of the season, fit the profile of your average Wag?

She's not average at all, according to The Sun, which describes the 26-year-old former model and Miss Ireland contestant as being in "the premier league of Wags". They don't put that down to her first-class degree in finance and economics from UCD, but because the £90,000 engagement ring presented to her by Robbie in 2006 apparently cost more than Victoria Beckham's or Cheryl Cole's.

The couple met when she was 18, and one of her first tasters of what life would be like hooked up to a professional footballer came during their first holiday together – they were accompanied by paparazzi hiding in the bushes.

The term Wag is something Keane says she "takes with a pinch of salt. Most of these women have their own thing going on and people forget that. The only thing they have in common is that their husbands share a talent. I don't want to be typecast."

If she moves to Glasgow, it's unlikely the pinnacle of her social life will be hanging around Sauchiehall Street with a bag of chips and a deep-fried Mars bar – Robbie's reputed £65,000 a week at the Old Firm club should see her right for partying at private members' club 29, decked out in the requisite designer frocks and Louboutins.

The couple live in London, and if the tabloids are to be believed, retail is Mrs Keane's preferred type of therapy, in Harrod's and on Bond Street, with a budget to make a finance minister wince. They've been spotted at Bougis, the London club favoured by the young royal heirs to the throne, while holidays are spent in Dubai.

The 'they' here includes Joan Palmer because, to paraphrase the late mother of Wills and Harry, you could say there are three people in this marriage. So her mum clubs and holidays with the couple too. But it would be easy to be cynical about Claudine's presence in the glossy gossip-magazine spreads. Even though most twentysomethings would baulk at the notion of going to Electric Picnic with their mother, it's not just because Palmer is originally from Stradbally, Co Laois, that the two went festival-hopping last summer. Their relationship is more like sisters who get on so well they even swap clothes, says Keane, and there is a degree of security in that.

"When I met Rob she became quite protective of me," Claudine has said of her mum. "And because the media became so interested in me, I had to be more protective of myself and who was around me."

Dublin-based fashion photographer Lili Forberg worked with Keane on her modelling portfolio and saw the close relationship of mother and daughter first hand.

"At the time I didn't really know who she was and she wasn't married to Robbie yet. She seemed just like a regular girl. Except absolutely stunning. She was very easy to work with. Her mum was helping her out with her outfits and we had great fun doing the shoot."

For now, Keane is hoping to develop her TV work – she recently worked on TV3's Midday show for five consecutive days. The couple's young son, Robert Jnr, was born last May, and she adhered to the core Wag principle regarding childbirth ? losing an 'incredible' amount of weight immediately after having a baby. Celebrity watchers also breathed a sigh of relief when it was revealed those "killer post-baby curves" were down to exercise, not starvation. You can certainly see why she says so emphatically that, in 2010, she intends to get out more.

"I spent nine months of 2009 staying in and rubbing my tummy with oils to prevent stretch marks."

Hero or villain? Claudine Keane

High: Turning down a lucrative deal for an 'exclusive' on their 2008 wedding at the Ritz Carlton

Low: Agreeing a £20,000 glossy magazine shoot later the same year when Robbie moved to Liverpool