EXCLUSIVE The shocking reason the Spice Girls have reunited WITHOUT Victoria Beckham: Insiders tell KATIE HIND how the band are back rehearsing and are even planning a tour... but haven't bothered to get in touch with Posh
Since Victoria Beckham last joined the Spice Girls on stage for the London 2012 Olympics Closing Ceremony, it has been their greatest wish that she would once again take part in a reunion.
And, so, their courtship of her was, for a considerable amount of time, nothing short of relentless: from begging her in their joint WhatsApp group, to placing pleas in the press - and even trying to get her husband, David, to put in a good word for them.
So it may come as a surprise that, as the band are busily trying to put together another reunion tour, there is still one name missing from the line-up: Victoria, the most famous of all the Spice Girls.
So what's the reason for her being left out of the band's current project, which they hope will culminate into a string of concerts across the globe next year?
The reason can be boiled down to two simple words: Simon Fuller.
For after decades of tension and animosity, the four other Spice Girls - Mel B, Mel C, Geri Horner and Emma Bunton - are again back working with their creator and former manager, Fuller, now 64.
It's all in the hope that the foursome can embark on a potentially lucrative tour to mark the 30th anniversary of their 1996 debut single, Wannabe, next year.
However, while the others have been able to put their differences behind them, Victoria, 50, and husband David have both fallen out with the music mogul.
Indeed, relations between the trio became so bad that both Beckhams bought themselves out of their contracts with Simon's XIX Entertainment in 2018.
'The Spice Girls working with Fuller means that there is absolutely no way that Victoria will be involved at all,' said one source close to the band.
'It feels rather bizarre that they would beg Victoria for years and years to join them and now they have him on board, they don't approach her. Maybe they thought there would be no point, as the Beckhams and Fuller no longer have a relationship, it's over.
'While the band need a manager, what this does mean is there is zero chance that Victoria will be involved. Clearly, they know that too so they didn't even bother asking her now they are back with Fuller.'
I revealed back in 2018 that David was to part ways with Fuller after more than 15 years of working with him.
He and Victoria paid around £38million for Fuller's 33 per cent stake in the former England footballer's businesses, which gave the Beckhams full control of Beckham Brand Holdings, which includes a stake in the US-based football club Inter Miami FC.
Sources close to both men said at the time there had been some 'issues' between them, and their once close friendship had very much come to an end.
Then, in August 2019, Victoria also ditched Fuller, who had managed her up until then.
He and Victoria paid around £38million for Fuller's 33 per cent stake in the former England footballer's businesses, which gave the Beckhams full control of Beckham Brand Holdings, which includes a stake in the US-based football club Inter Miami FC
While he remains a shareholder in her fashion label, there is no love lost between the Beckhams and Fuller - so much so that they put the kibosh on him managing their youngest son Cruz, whom they had hoped would become a pop star in his own right.
Sources close to the couple say they opted instead for Scooter Braun, 38, the man behind Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande, in a bid to ensure that Cruz had someone 'younger and fresher' to manage him.
'They were all once so close, but various things happened between the Beckhams and Fuller,' a source told me. 'David and Victoria wanted out and Simon didn't exactly make it easy.
'They got there in the end and there has been no looking back.
'The Spice Girls will know this and have obviously taken their chances and gone with Simon. It's all very odd, because the other girls didn't ever think much of him either.'
Indeed they didn't. Even some of Fuller's own staff were taken aback when he jetted in from Los Angeles to cheer the band on for the opening night of their last reunion tour at Dublin's Croke Park stadium in 2019.
Because while he may have catapulted the group to global fame back in the mid-90s, they ditched Fuller for those 2019 gigs in which they appeared as a foursome, amid suggestions that he was 'too old fashioned' to mastermind their comeback.
Instead, they chose Modest Management, the London-based firm that managed the likes of One Direction and Little Mix.
Adding to the surprise of Fuller - 'yesterday's man', as some in their circle dubbed him - being back at the helm is also the years-long on/off animosity between him and the Spice Girls. Not to mention the fall outs that have also occurred between the girls themselves.
One source close to the singers tells me. 'They ditched Fuller last time as they thought he was out of touch and not the right person to make their tour work. It was pretty brutal but they didn't want him involved then.
'They have spent months trying to find a new manager but the job is a nightmare, particularly because of the turbulent friendship between Mel B and Geri. So what should have been seen as a great job is actually very hard because of the constant warring between them.
'Now they have found their way back to Fuller and it all feels very dire. You can't help but think that this is all going to end in tears.'
Indeed, without his management, the last tour did well, selling 700,000 tickets across 13 sold-out stadium shows in the UK and Ireland, making each Spice Girl £4.4million each.
But after months of trying - and failing - to find a manager in a bid to recreate that success, the fact that Fuller has been asked to oversee the new reunion tour may illustrate how keen some of the group are on making yet another comeback.
Mel C has been hinting at plans for a 2026 reunion. Speaking on Australia's 2Day FM in March, she said: 'We have to do something special. Obviously, I can't say too much but we are talking about things. Hopefully, a nice little world tour.'
But Geri stayed more coy when asked last week about a reunion. She said: 'I love the Spice Girls as a movement, the tribe of us and the individual members.'
It was revealed this week that Fuller and Geri are to meet up on Sunday, May 4, in Miami to 'thrash out a deal'.
Geri's husband Christian Horner is the boss of Formula 1 racing team Red Bull, while Simon is a huge fan and a regular in the pit lane at grand prix around the world. This weekend they will come face to face at the Miami race as Fuller has an invitation from Red Bull.
Indeed, the reality is that even Geri's participation in the reunion appeared to be touch and go for a while, but now looks to be on a relatively firmer footing.
I'm told the scandal engulfing her husband, who accused of misconduct by a team employee, apparently sending her sexually suggestive messages, put Geri off taking part.
However, with the publication of her children's books, Geri appears to again be enjoying a taste of fame, and those close to the band suggest her taste for the limelight has returned.
Potential pitfalls abound, however, even if the reunion deal comes off.
Geri's fall-out with Mel B remains an issue: the two women had a monumental fallout after Mel B told Piers Morgan in a 2019 television interview that she had had an intimate relationship with Geri in the band's early days.
Geri was deeply upset by the bombshell, for which Mel has apparently never apologised.
This alone would make for a bumpy return to the road for the tour, never mind the rest.
'There are times when the two of them haven't been able to be in the same room,' said a Spice Girls insider. 'They have had some crazy fall outs which is really hard for the others.
'If they can pull this tour off it will be nothing short of a miracle.'
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