Robbie Williams's rivalry with Liam and Noel Gallagher explained

Robbie Williams has a lot of ground to cover in his much-hyped biopic, Better Man, which tracks the singer's rise to superstardom while showing him as a CGI monkey.

Along with the controversy that came with him quitting Take That, viewers will also see a different long-running rivalry play out — Williams' many spats with Oasis brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher. While the Gallaghers' feud with each other has been legendary over the years, it seems they have been united in a common pastime of trading insults with Williams.

From their unexpected friendship at Glastonbury in the 90s to insults, jibes and competing over gigs, we look back at what went down between the stars and where they're at now.

Glastonbury pals

After Williams quit Take That, he was keen for an image overhaul from his boyband days - and what better way to do it than becoming friends with Oasis?

In a new bromance that no-one saw coming, Williams was pictured hugging Liam Gallagher at Glastonbury in 1995, pointing out in recent BBC documentary Boybands Forever that in the 90s it was unusual for pop stars to be at the festival. He said that he'd felt some hostility from others at the festival who felt he didn't fit in, and it seems the Gallaghers may have felt the same way as he was apparently quietly dropped by them soon afterwards.

In 2013, Williams told The Sun: "Lad culture was a massive, massive thing. I love Oasis. I was a big fan of their music, vibe and energy. I happened to know them and knock about with them for a little while. I don't think I was their cup of tea.

"At the time I think the exact words were, 'I'm not mod', so I was sort of mates with them for a bit, then I didn't gel with them, so we stopped hanging out, simple as that."

'The fat dancer from Take That'

However, things didn't end quite as simply as that. Following their weekend at Glastonbury, Noel Gallagher publicly referred to Williams as "the fat dancer from Take That", an insult that stuck with the pop star for years.

At the Brit Awards in 2000, it was clear that things had definitely soured between them as Williams got up on stage to accept an award and used his speech to challenge Liam to a fight.

He said: "Anybody like to see me fight Liam? Liam, a hundred grand of your money and a hundred grand of my money. We’ll get in a ring and we’ll have a fight and you can all watch it on TV."

The pair later had a run-in at the Q Awards where Liam used his own acceptance speech to sarcastically dedicate his win to Williams, who left the ceremony early. Asked afterwards whether he thought he had driven Williams out of the awards, Liam replied: "No, he drove himself out."

Knebworth jibes

Although Williams and Oasis have little in common when it comes to style of music, that hasn't stopped them from being competitive over ticket sales.

Williams's three nights of Knebworth shows in 2003 are known as being the high point of his solo career, but they had extra meaning to the star as he couldn't resist a dig at Oasis who had played two nights at Knebworth in 1996.

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He wrote: "Dear Mr N Gallagher, you said two nights at Knebworth is history. Well, I guess three is just greedy. Yours, Rob. PS: Finding it difficult to find adequate support for my show. What are you doing on the 1st and 2nd? Oh, and the 3rd?"

Clashing Manchester gigs

Even 10 years on, the stars still couldn't let things lie as in 2013 Williams had booked a gig at the 60,000-seater Etihad Stadium in Manchester on the same night as Liam's band Beady Eye were performing at Manchester's Ritz to a crowd of 1,500.

Asked by BBC Radio 5 Live ahead of the shows why they had ended up at such different points in their careers, Liam claimed Beady Eye were a "proper live band" and added of Williams "but the bulls*** is winning".

Liam said: "We should be playing the Etihad three nights, not some f***ing fat f***ing idiot. It could be any f***ing clown. I think it’s a shame that he’s doing three nights and a band like us are doing one night in the Ritz. Poor, mate. It’s not about him, it’s people in general. But it’s about f***ing him, just in case you think I’m scared or something."

He later added: "It’s a small gig. Beady Eye ain’t a big band. Everyone thinks we’re going to announce big f***ing stadiums. [The Ritz] is the level we’re at and we’ll stay at that until you pull your f***ing finger out and buy the f***ing records."

Williams couldn't resist biting back, telling The Sun his views on Beady Eye: "The production is really good. There are a couple of tunes that would have been f***ing amazing if they had a chorus. Flick of the Finger, nearly a great tune. Start Anew, if that had a chorus – but there is no chorus."

Leaving the country

Despite the back and forth of sniping on both sides over the years, Williams has admitted more recently that he was hugely affected by some of the insults — even claiming his move to LA in 2004 was in part due to the abuse he received publicly from people including the Gallaghers.

In 2021 he told the Talent Takes Practice podcast: "My brand of entertainment wasn’t deemed worthy because of how I presented myself. There was a culture of ‘Robbie Williams is not cool’. That was apart from the three million people who bought my albums. Every time I watched TV programmes, there were people being hateful about me. That was just wrong and grotesque. It was unbearable. I just left the country."

He added: "Liam said that I should be hung, Noel said I was 'the fat dancer from Take That'. I remember every single syllable of every single thing they’ve ever said about me. I could talk for two hours about why Noel’s s***.

"Isn’t it interesting what a few words can do to your whole life? I’m not healed."

'Gigantic bullies'

Williams, who has been open in recent years about the effects on him of spending his life in the public eye, continued to explain how the feud had made him feel in 2022.

He told Zane Lowe for Apple Music: "It's part of that competitive nature of me too. And also they were gigantic bullies too, to the whole industry, everybody in it. And I didn't like that. And a lot of that still remains inside me. They're probably different people now but there's a lot of me that's like, 'They're f***ing bullies, them. I don't like bullies.'"

Meanwhile, it seemed that Liam was in a more reflective mood by then, too. One of his fans flagged up Williams' comments to him on social media, pointing out that Williams had also said he was still an Oasis fan and was glad Liam existed.

Liam posted his own thoughts in reply: "I agree with him on the vital ting not on the bully thing I’ve never bullied anyone in my life I’m a massive p**s taker for sure and probably gone a little too far sometimes but if I’ve ever hurt anyone’s feelings I apologise."

Oasis reunion and burying the hatchet

Showing that he was able to put aside previous animosity, Williams was quick to congratulate Oasis in the summer after the announcement that they would put their own feud aside to reunite for a tour in 2025.

According to The Mirror, Williams said: "As for the shows? They're gonna be incredible, off-the-scale special. Oasis getting back together is going to be a healing moment for our country. Liam Gallagher reading his phone on the toilet would be more charismatic and intriguing than 99.9 per cent of the world's population at their most enigmatic. All he has to do is stand there and sing for the audience to be guaranteed their money's worth."

But his Gallagher spat is not entirely over, as he added: "Noel will be there too."

Williams also defended Oasis over the dynamic pricing controversy that dogged them as ticket costs spiralled as demand grew for their reunion shows.

The former Take That singer told The Face: "I think that the whole music industry just learned something. I've never sat in a 'How much are we pricing the tickets?' meeting. And I don't believe that Oasis did either.

"Liam definitely didn't know, 'This is how much tickets are going to cost. We're going to do this thing called dynamic pricing'. I only know about dynamic pricing because of Oasis."

Better Man is out in cinemas on Boxing Day.