Cheryl Cole tweets ‘her girls’ despite not speaking for a year

Just a few months ago, the young protége Cheryl Cole personally dubbed her mini-me complained that she’d be more likely to win the lottery than hear from her old mentor.

So it must have come as quite a shock to Cher Lloyd, and her fellow 2010 X Factor finalist Rebecca Ferguson, when they received a very sweet tweet from Cole today, calling them ‘her girls’.

Cheryl, 28, wrote on her Twitter page: ‘Feels like I’ve blinked and we’re back in November, its been a crazy year.

‘So proud of what my girls have achieved @CherLloyd and @RebeccaFMusic are doing so well!!’

She linked to Rebecca’s new music video for her debut single Nothing’s Real But Love, adding: ‘Just been watching this…wow.’

The message raised a few eyebrows though, as Cheryl failed to mention another of ‘her girls’ Katie Waissel.

And the snub did not go unnoticed. Within an hour, Waissel, who is now in a band named Red Velvet Lovers, responded: ‘Ouch lol @RedVelvetLovers #rocknroll’

Her wild card contestant Treyc Cohen also missed out on a mention.

Despite forging a close relationship with their mentor during the show, both girls have revealed that they have not heard from Cheryl since.

In August Miss Lloyd said during a radio interview: ‘I didn’t have her mobile number to begin with. I’ve got more chance of winning the lottery than catching up with her.’

The 18-year-old was a little more diplomatic in a later interview, musing: ‘I haven’t really heard from her, which is a shame, you know because we were quite close on the show.

‘But you know, things happen. It was a TV show and I don’t expect people to have to keep in contact with me.’

Meanwhile, mother-of-two Ferguson recently told New! magazine: ‘I feel a little sad about (not hearing from her), but she has a much busier life than me. I have seen how busy it is just at my pace, so I wouldn’t like to think what it is like at hers.’

However, after finding out today about Cole’s tweet, she was very excited.

She told MTV.co.uk: ‘That’s so sweet. I actually did not know that wow, that’s lovely.

‘That makes me really really happy actually – I’m gonna tweet her back now. I haven’t heard from her but that’s lovely. That’s made me really happy.’