Jessica has paused her law career for now, working from home in social media and sharing her experiences on TikTok, often with #wag and #waglife. She says her profession can wait, but her partner’s can’t; to support him properly, she avoids getting too emotionally invested and accepts the sacrifices that come with helping him chase his football ambitions.
Part of that means not getting attached to any one place. They typically rent modern homes they can personalise, though last season Argyle provided furnished accommodation. Many of their son Xavier’s toys and garden items are in storage, and they even nicknamed the Plymouth place “the holiday house.” It’s tough when he asks for things like his trampoline that they don’t have with them.
Owen’s career always takes precedence. She loved living in Oxford when he had a year left on his deal, but the right move for him was to go elsewhere for regular minutes, so they relocated.
Jessica says people often assume “WAGs” and footballers have easy lives, and many lump League One players in with those in the Premier League. While top-flight salaries can set players up for life, that’s not their reality; they have to plan for life after football.
Uncertainty is constant—relegation or injury can change everything. When they were at Portsmouth, his parent club Blackpool went down, and his wage was affected even though he hadn’t played there that season. They try to stay within their means and be ready for anything. They still feel fortunate, and Owen has largely avoided serious injuries, but she knows players who get hurt late in the season and find themselves out of contract. In football, fortunes can swing quickly.
That instability touches their children too—four-year-old Xavier and two-month-old Etta. With school on the horizon, Xavier’s need for stability is another factor. Even planning his fourth birthday was complicated; they couldn’t commit to a party in Plymouth, so they organised one near her family in Stoke-on-Trent to work regardless of Owen’s job.
They frame each move as a positive. They’ve told Xavier they might be moving soon—and that his bike will come out of storage—to help him focus on what he’ll gain, not what he’ll lose. Thankfully, he loves football and gets excited about new kits, new chants, and everything that comes with a fresh start.