McCoist's £2m divorce battle

It could be called the curse of Patsy Kensit. Her three husbands all saw their fortunes falter after taking up with the blonde actress.

Now former lover Ally McCoist may also pay the price. His 37-year- old wife Allison is demanding a £2million divorce payout following the former football star's highly-public affair with Miss Kensit three years ago.

Although McCoist dropped 35-year-old Miss Kensit after their relationship was discovered in September 2001 in

favour of his wife of 12 years, the damage was done.

Another woman, air hostess Donna Giblin, came out of the woodwork claiming she had been having an affair with him for two years, while Mrs McCoist took up with the couple's gardener.

Now media pundit McCoist, 41, and his wife, a former beauty queen, face a battle in Edinburgh's Court of Session over his estimated £4million fortune.

Mrs McCoist is demanding half of it and an allowance of £4,000 a month.

After a short adjournment yestaleterday, following a plea by McCoist's brief that the former Rangers star had the flu, the case is due to start tomorrow.

'You could say this is yet more proof of how Patsy Kensit and men should not mix,' said one source close to the case yesterday.

'They are never any good for her - and she only brings them bad luck.'

Until Miss Kensit's appearance, the McCoists were seen as a fairy-couple. They met when the Scottish football hero was just 18 and were together for nine years before they married and had three sons.

Their union was tested when Mitchell, one of their twin boys, was born with a serious heart defect. But they appeared to come through it stronger than ever.

In September 2001, however, Miss Kensit - tiring of her lover's excuses for not leaving his wife - gave a friendly wink to a newspaper which printed the story of the couple's affair.

It appeared that Miss Kensit - who had recently split from Oasis's Liam Gallagher - and McCoist had been lovers for several months after being introduced by another of her ex-husbands, Simple Minds star Jim Kerr.

Miss Kensit's publicity gamble failed to pay off, however, as McCoist just as publicly dumped her for his wife. 'I just want to say I have been a

complete fool,' he insisted. 'The only thing that matters is Allison and the boys.'

But a week later, the marriage was rocked further when Miss Giblin claimed McCoist had been her lover for two-and-a-half years.

It was not long before Mrs McCoist was seeking some extra-marital loving of her own - somewhat controversially, in the arms of the couple's gardener Scott Crawford, 39, who has six children with four women as well as convictions for assault and breach of the peace.

Relations became increasingly strained between the McCoists and at one point the former striker was banned from entering the couple's £800,000 mansion near Glasgow.

Last November, speaking about the break-up for the first time, McCoist still pinned the blame on his moment of madness with Miss Kensit.

'Separating from [Allison] is probably the one thing in my life that has tested me the most,' he said. 'I know what people say, "You've made your bed, now lie on it" and I know I've made mistakes and I accept all of that. But it still doesn't stop it hurting.'

He and his wife have attempted to put their animosity aside for the sake of their children, and he is now a regular visitor to the former family home.

Mrs McCoist is still, however, dating Mr Crawford, although the couple are not living together.

McCoist has found it difficult to settle down following their split.

A relationship with events manager Vivien Ross was marred when he also forged a close friendship with an insurance salesgirl and was pictured with two air stewardesses.

Last weekend, it was revealed that Miss Kensit is now dating Little Britain comic David Walliams.

Friends are believed to have given him a stern warning about the alleged curse.