They say that behind every great man is a great woman.

Alison Jackson will tell you it isn’t easy being a footballer’s wife. Many young girls today are eager to emulate the glossy-haired, perfectly manicured waif-thin women they see on the arms of premier league players.

Many aspire to a lifestyle of spending big money on designer clothes and carving a career out of looking good, but for the original footballers’ wives and girlfriends – or WAGS as they are now known – life wasn’t like that.

Footballers weren’t treated like gods as they are now. They were players with one goal in mind – to be the best they could be in a sport.

When Alison met Peter Jackson in Bradford’s Time and Place nightclub in 1980, she knew nothing about football. She was out with a group of nursing colleagues when Peter and his Bradford City team mates arrived in the bar all suited and booted in smart blazers following their match against Liverpool at Anfield in the Football League Cup.

“He came over, he had a blazer on and I thought he was possibly a member of Brighouse and Rastrick brass band,” laughs Alison, 55. “When he asked me to dance I said no. I wasn’t a football fan.”

Peter, 52, enticed her with tickets to see a match – her brothers and father, all football fans, were grateful for the gesture. Alison and Peter became a couple and a swift engagement and marriage followed within nine months.

Reminiscing about those early days, when Peter was playing for clubs such as Bradford City and Newcastle United alongside star players like Paul Gascoigne, Alison explains that wives and girlfriends were often on the sidelines.

“When men are involved in football they’re totally focused – you are second best – but there are times when you’re the only thing that’s important in their life. It’s a balancing act, but you get used to it,” she says.

It was during Peter’s days with Newcastle United that Alison felt the pressure of being a ‘WAG’.

Support from fans was particularly strong in Newcastle and she recalls the frequent taps on the car window for her autograph when dropping Peter off at the football ground.

While Peter carved a successful career in football, eventually managing Huddersfield Town, Lincoln City and Bradford City, Alison remained independent, forging her own careers.

“I worked all the way through. You never know what will happen in life – if you’re not able to earn your own money you set yourself up to fail,” she says. “These days girls marry footballers because they’re footballers – it’s a status thing, which it wasn’t in our day.”

Careers as a franchisee for Rosemary Conley, an air hostess and corporate sales manager are among those Alison has pursued – but she would come to rely on her skills as a former oncology sister following Peter’s devastating cancer diagnosis in 2008.

The couple relive their experiences in their book Living With Jacko From Touchline to Lifeline, a frank and honest insight into their life, their careers and Peter’s fight against throat cancer.

Alison explains the book developed from a diary she started to help her come to terms with Peter’s diagnosis.

“When Peter was diagnosed with throat cancer, I kept a record of every day to chart events from when he was diagnosed through to the preparation for treatment. I thought it would be about a 20-day diary, but it went on much longer,” says Alison.

The diary became Alison’s coping mechanism. Administering Peter’s medication meant she was often up and about in the early hours, giving her time to combine her caring role with documenting the family’s experience.

“I used to type away in the middle of the night. I thought it may be useful for someone who had gone through a similar situation because everyone knows somebody who has suffered with cancer.

“I thought it may be a bit of hope and inspiration, because ours was a very positive outcome, but at the time we couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel and I was on a mission to get him fit and healthy and well again.”

Alison credits staff at St James’ Hospital in Leeds and Macmillan Cancer nurses with the support and care they gave Peter and the family.

From Peter’s perspective, Alison says he coped by not acknowledging he had the disease.

“He wasn’t interested in his illness. It was nothing to do with him. I was going to get him better and that is how he coped with it,” she says.

Since marking five years in remission in June, Alison says Peter has now put the ordeal behind him. The opportunity to combine Alison’s diary within a book about their lives came after he was approached by a freelance writer.

Peter had previously rejected the idea of writing a football book in what he felt was already a saturated market. But Alison’s diary, combined with their experiences of living with football and the way she nursed him through one of the toughest times of their lives, was a different concept and one they felt could inspire others.

The battle against cancer wasn’t the only trauma Peter and his family have faced. They were at Valley Parade on May 11, 1985, when the devastating fire broke out in the wooden stands Peter used to clear as an apprentice.

Alison recalls being in the players’ lounge with their daughter, Charlotte, who was then 18 months old, when the blaze swept through the stands. It was, she recalls, a harrowing experience they will never forget.

“You remember it vividly, like it was yesterday. It never goes away, an experience like that,” says Alison.

“The first we knew was a deathly silence. You could hear a whirring noise and the door of the players’ bar opened.”

Many ran through the bar to escape and Alison recalls clinging on to Charlotte.

“It was filling with smoke, then this pair of hands just grabbed us and it was Peter. We ran to safety, but we will never forget.”

Having survived the fire and endured their cancer ordeal together, the couple are now working together.

Alison is managing director of Caremark Calderdale, a home care provider, and Peter is a hands-on carer – a contrasting career to the life he led on the pitch.

This year they are celebrating two weddings – their son Oliver was married in May and daughter Charlotte gets married next month.

It is evident the couple are proud of their collaboration and confident their story will appeal to both football fans and WAGS.

“It’s not just for men, it’s for wives and partners as well, and I hope it helps somebody and offers them some hope that when diagnosed with cancer, it is not the end of the world,” says Alison.

“Life can go on and it is about having a positive attitude and you will get through.”

Living With Jacko From Touchline To Lifeline is published by Great Northern Books, priced £17.99. Visit www.greatnorthernbooks.co.uk.