Arsenal star's divorce battle

Arsenal star Ray Parlour faced a legal battle today as his wife claimed a huge share of his multi-million-pound earnings.

He has already been ordered to pay £250,000-a-year maintenance to his ex-wife Karen on top of his offer of a £250,000 lump sum and two mortgage-free homes.

But today Mrs Parlour launched an appeal, demanding at least a third of his £1.2 million annual earnings until their three children can support themselves.

She claims she is entitled to the money after helping the former England international player back from the brink of alcoholism in the Nineties, enabling him to continue his lucrative career. If Mrs Parlour wins it is likely to be seen as a legal precedent forcing many other husbands to hand over half their wages.

For the first time it can be revealed that at an earlier hearing Mr Justice Bennett, ruling that Parlour's offer of £120,000 a year was not enough, said his wife played a major part in persuading him to drop the

"laddish" culture among certain Arsenal players and to "grow up".

The judge added: "Her contribution to the home and the children both now and in the future must not be underestimated, overlooked or played down."

Today, three appeal judges in London heard argument that Mrs Parlour's annual maintenance should be increased even further. She had originally claimed £440,000.

In his judgment Mr Justice Bennett added: "The wife has suggested in her evidence that the husband was and is a drinker." Before Arsene Wenger arrived at Arsenal in 1996 Parlour had participated in an environment in which "there was considerable drinking among certain players" at the club.

The judge said: "However, the wife realised that this was the way to ruin and unhappiness and I'm satisfied that in about the mid-Nineties or slightly later she took a grip on the situation and encouraged and persuaded her husband to move away from that style of living."

He added: "She was part of the circumstances that persuaded him to drop the laddish culture and, as she put it, grow up."

The Parlours' seven-year relationship produced three children, now aged eight, six and four, the court heard. At the earlier hearing the judge said he was "satisfied that she had borne the burden of bringing up the children" while they were together. He added: "She will have to bear the burden of bringing them up

during their childhood." He was satisfied that Mrs Parlour had no earning capacity. "She told me in evidence that she made no sacrifice in giving up her work with an optician in 1994, nor has she been disadvantagedin staying at home." He said he recognised that Parlour, 31, was a talented footballer who had created the family's wealth, adding: "However, in my judgment there is a very significant factor in the success of the husband in which the wife played a vital role."

Today Mrs Parlour's counsel Nicholas Mostyn QC was putting forward her case in the Appeal Court hearing, expected to last two days, to Lord Justices Thorpe, Latham and Wall. It is the first time Parlour's identity could be revealed as the previous hearing took place in the High Court Family Division, subject to reporting restrictions.