EXCLUSIVE Liam Gallagher's former gardener blasts Oasis star 'sacking him without notice' and says rocker should 'have the balls to do it face-to-face'

Daily Mail​

a day ago

For more than a year, Tom Ceze lovingly tended to the bougainvilleas and citrus trees in the grounds of Liam Gallagher 's spectacular hideaway home on the French Riviera.
The professional gardener seemed to get on well with the Oasis singer who hired him personally and would often encourage him to break off from his horticultural endeavours and join him for a coffee or a cold beer.
But he says their relationship ended on a sour note when he received a call out of the blue - telling him he was being given the chop.
And now Tom has spoken for the first time about how disappointed he's been with the way he has been treated by the singer who is set to earn a reported £50m from the Oasis reunion tour which begins on Friday.
The 45-year-old told MailOnline: 'I built my life around that job.'
He said he believed he had 'a gentleman's agreement' with the star over his long-term employment carrying out gardening work in the grounds of the Wonderwall singer's six-bedroom 18th-century villa.
Reports of a fallout between the pair first surfaced last August when Tom posted in on an expat forum to express his frustration, writing: 'This is not nice! We are in France!
'There are rules here... please act responsibly and at least have the balls to sack me face to face.'
Now, in an exclusive interview, Tom has given his first detailed account of what happened.
He told how after years of gardening work, he thought he had landed his dream job working on the six-acre estate which Liam bought from TV star Noel Edmonds for £3million in 2023.
'He hired me in person after his manager found me. I built my life around that job and let half of my gardening clients go to accommodate Liam's vast property and his needs.'
Latvian-born Tom had been based on the French Riviera for a number of years, tending to the gardens of wealthy landowners as well as helping to look after properties.
He said he was interviewed by Liam, 52, and his fiancee Debbie Gwyther, 40, before they hired him to work for them at just over £25-an-hour (30 euros) in early 2023.
The couple took him on shortly after buying the property which is set in the hills in Provence, around a 30-minute drive from the millionaires' playground of Cannes.
The sprawling rustic mansion, described as 'a luxurious Provencal bastide', features traditional stone walls and blue shutters.
With three floors, the stunning pad is decked out with luxury furniture and decor, and enjoys spectacular views of the surrounding vineyards.
It comes complete with a heated swimming pool and pool house along with a 'summer kitchen'.
Its extensive landscaped gardens are described as being 'planted with Mediterranean and exotic trees' and includes an olive grove.
It was built as the home for a wealthy family of acclaimed perfumiers in an area known as 'the world's perfume capital'.
Manchester-born Liam is said to have fallen in love with the tranquility of the bolthole, which is 'half the world away' from his life in London where he owns a £4 million mock-Tudor mansion.
He recently posted a rare selfie of himself on Instagram sunbathing at the property - with another of his rescue dogs, Buttons, having a snooze on a chair.
A third image shows part of his garden, with the pool and sun loungers, and is simply captioned: 'spiritual.'
Tom continued: 'We shook hands on that deal, and where I am from, we believe that a handshake is enough if you are both honest people.
'Liam seemed like a nice guy. He told me the garden was a success, and he was always offering me and the other staff coffee and beers.'
But this happy period was not to last.
Tom went on: 'In April last year, as I was about to board a flight, his manager Gemma called to tell me I was being let go without notice.
'She didn't provide any explanation; she just said they 'don't want you anymore'.
'I've been trying to contact Liam to say that losing this job has really messed up my life.
'I was relying on the work, and now other millionaires in the South of France won't hire me as they think I will make problems.'
Tom told how he hired another gardener to help him manage the workload and insisted he had been carrying out the duties he was asked to perform in a professional way.
He said: 'Liam was a pleasure to work for at first and Debbie too, and the chateau is like a castle, it's the most incredible property.
'He has special requests for the garden - he wanted it to look rustic, which means overgrown with valuable plants.
But, he claims he was left out of pocket after he turned down other lucrative work before he was axed without warning - leaving his tools behind.
Tom said he was told not to return to the mansion, but no explanation was given for his dismissal, and all contact was broken off.
He said he had to contact lawyers to get 'just two weeks' notice' and permission to return to collect his working equipment.
He said he was left hurt when he was sacked by one of Liam's employees in a cold phone call - rather than the singer speaking to him face-to-face.
He told MailOnline: 'It was my dream job because I really liked Liam and I believed he was the type of man that would honour his word.
Tom told how he had contacted lawyers in Nice over his sacking.
He said: 'I had to fight to get just two weeks' notice so I could go back and collect my tools.'
He has now quit the south of France and is working in Uganda after setting up Tom's Green Coffee Company.
He describes his firm as an eco-friendly supplier of specialty coffee from beans grown in the Rwenzori Mountains that are hand picked by local farmers and families.
He said: 'I'm in Uganda right now, but I will be back in France speaking to the lawyers again soon. I need to reach a resolution, even if I have to go and ring on his doorbell.
'My message to Liam is, You hired me in person so you should at least have the balls to fire me face-to-face.'
Liam bought the property from Edmonds, 76, who first listed it for sale in 2017 after he and third wife Liz Davies moved into a luxury apartment in Monaco before relocating to New Zealand.
After looking round the property, the pop star is said to have been amused by 'multiple engravings' by its previous celebrity owner - who shares his first name with Liam's brother.
When the couple first moved in, a source said: 'Liam's been telling mates, 'I've bought Mr Blobby's house'.
'Him and Debbie plan to put their own stamp on it. They think all the carvings of Noel's name are quite funny and ironic.'
Liam and Noel, 58, had famously been through a spectacular falling out which led to Oasis splitting up 16 years ago.
Their long-awaited comeback tour is set to kick off on Friday with the first of two gigs at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.
The brothers are said to have secretly reunited at the villa days after they announced they were reforming last year.
Liam reportedly previously had problems months after he moved in following claims the property had been invaded by British doggers.
Holidaymakers boasted about their alleged escapades on a members-only swinging site with one writing: 'Me, the missus and our pals love that we're rockin' out at Liam's place. He's welcome to join in.'
A second bragged: 'I've had plenty of meets there because a lot of the time it's empty' while another said: 'Had a few nawties at Noel Edmonds' gaff in the grounds'.
However, one warned their fellow swingers to be careful, saying the French Police in the area 'don't have a sense of humour'.
Liam later denied the claims saying: 'There are no doggers, no sex people.
'I went round the grounds looking.'
In February last year he told Mojo magazine that he spent most of the previous summer at the house.
He said: 'There's an Irish bar around the corner, a lobster shack down the road.
'I can sit in with Debbie, get absolutely rat-arsed, and nobody turns around and says 'Are you that b***end from Oasis?' And the weather is nice.'