Top footballer took thousands of pounds, claim teammates and parents

Ms Allen-Wyatt is seen as an influential figure in Welsh women's football and has regularly spoken about her wish to inspire younger players.

Some parents said they felt flattered that she saw potential in their children.

Lucy and Matt Roberts paid £300 for 10 sessions for their seven-year-old daughter Willow, who “lives and breathes” football but sometimes lacked confidence.

The parents-of-three, who live in Hengoed, Caerphilly, said Ms Allen-Wyatt told them a GPS tracker would measure Willow's metrics, which she would then compare against children on the Aston Villa Academy database.

Aston Villa have been approached for comment.

Some parents said the cancelled sessions impacted on their children’s confidence.

Kelly Tanner from Blackwood, Caerphilly, arranged for her nine-year old "football-mad" daughter Elen to have a taster session, before she then paid £300 for 10 sessions.

Ms Tanner said: "[Ms Allen-Wyatt] gave Elen really positive feedback and joked, 'I'll be your manager when you're a famous footballer'. Elen was absolutely beaming."

But after six weeks of trying to arrange sessions, Kelly asked for a refund which was eventually returned.

She said: "The reason we wanted these sessions was to build Elen’s  self confidence and it did the absolute opposite in terms of feeling rejected, or not good enough, or just not important enough."

Adrian Thole, from Caerphilly, paid for 12 sessions for his 15-year-old daughter Hannah, but only five were delivered.

Hannah, who is now 16, said the sessions were really good, but that she felt "embarrassed" when her dad had to chase Ms Allen-Wyatt, believing it was her fault for not being "good enough" to train with her.

Adrian said: "Tash talks about how much of a privilege it was to play for Wales. She's exploited that privilege and disappointed my daughter, and lots of other people."

Club Dreigiau Dâr was set up in Aberdare last year to provide football for girls and boys aged seven to 11, no matter their skill level or financial background.

The club, which is run by volunteers, paid £650 to Ms Allen-Wyatt in return for 20% of her academy’s profits and 12 coaching sessions with the club. She also said she would be their ambassador and offered discounted one-to-one sessions for parents.

Only two sessions were held and the club received no profit from the academy.

The club and two of the parents said they had asked for refunds but had not received any money back.

Club secretary Haydn Gleed said the situation was "heartbreaking".

Ms Allen-Wyatt did not respond to the allegations made by her former teammates or by businesses, but admitted she did have to cancel "some sessions" she had organised for children.

She said the cancellations were due to "circumstances beyond my control", including, "my car being written off and the second car breaking down" and that refunds had been paid to some parents and agreed with others.

She said she set up the academy to provide low-cost, "detailed technical coaching" to give children "the opportunities that I never had".

She said she was still operating it and "delivering local sessions".