Natasha Harding and the scandal that rocked women's football

British women's football is in shock following the downfall of Natasha Harding, a historic player who has won 103 caps for Wales and has been accused of fraud by former teammates, family, and sponsors.

A celebrated member of the FIFA 100 Club with storied tenures at Women's Super League teams including Cardiff City, Manchester City, Liverpool, Reading, and Aston Villa, she faced allegations in her concluding years at Aston Villa. These accusations have progressively cast a shadow over her illustrious football career.

Harding, who now goes by her married name, Allen-Wyatt, has been accumulating such allegations since 2022 when she was still an active member of the Aston Villa squad. That same year, she was also left out of the Welsh national team due to her poor relationship with some of her teammates.

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These problems did not arise out of nowhere. The reason behind it all was money. She asked several of her colleagues for money that she never returned.

Another dark chapter. According to BBC Wales, Allen-Wyatt has now been denounced by numerous British families who hired her services as a personal trainer.

In August 2023, she launched the Tash Harding Academy to train future footballers, which she began promoting through an Instagram account - now deleted.

The reality is that the former Welsh player did not comply with the agreements, using all kinds of excuses and tricks. She didn't comply with all the sessions for which she was paid for.

The prices for her work, according to the BBC, ranged from £180 to £975 for various packages of training sessions that, in the end, never took place.

As they pointed out, the cancellations of these sessions included excuses such as traffic accidents, scheduling problems, availability of spaces where to train, and even the celebration of her bachelorette party and her wedding.

Allen-Wyatt's lax attitude toward her classes had a devastating psychological effect on her students, too. What was designed as a self-esteem and skill booster for up-and-coming footballers turned into outright rejection.

Andy Hughes, coach of the 12- and 13-year-old girls at Northop Hall in Flintshire, spoke about this on the BBC. The former player offered her services to expand the academy to Northern Wales after appearing on the podcast 'This Girl Can Play', which coach Hughes hosts.

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Twelve girls signed up to the initiative - at a cost of £180 each - for 10 training sessions, of which only two were eventually held, with the rest canceled due to "family matters", forcing Hughes to refund the money out of his own pocket.

Her sponsors were vastly affected by her actions. The BBC reports that numerous companies in South and North Wales, Gloucestershire, and Worcestershire paid hundreds of dollars in sponsorship fees to appear on kits and banners, but she did not honor their agreements.

Many of them received images with their logos on Allen-Wyatt's shirts, but were never able to see them physically, which suggests that they were never put into circulation, thus breaching the contract.

A good example of this was Daniel Rees, who runs 'Cardiff Classic Shirts' and agreed to sponsor Allen-Wyatt for two years in exchange for £500. "I couldn't find any photographs of shirts that were intended to be printed, only a mock-up that was sent to me," he told the BBC.

Another of those defrauded businessmen was James Matthews, from the air conditioning company 'Sub-zero', who assured the BBC that he had paid £10,000 between his own investments and bank loans to become a partner in exchange for 48% of the profits obtained, of which he only made £437 in one year.

Among the approximately 70 families and companies that filed the complaint, it is estimated that the amount of money defrauded could be around £70,000, of which £27,000 are reported from various companies or 40,000 from the families who set up a WhatsApp group to form a united front against the former footballer.

These are all issues that are compounded by the British media itself, which claim that Allen-Wyat had even threatened to take legal action against them if, as they did, they published all this type of information on social media.

The Football Association of Wales (FAW) issued a statement condemning the behavior of its historic star, which it described as "extremely disappointing" and which "does not represent us as a team or our values" and invited all those affected to report it.

Now, while many families have already reported Allen-Wyat's actions to the authorities, which are being investigated by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, the former idol of British fans remains silent while her image continues to deteriorate, ruining a past of success and recognition.

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