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The Sun
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Four fun ideas for watching the Lionesses in the Euros Final at home
SUPPORT the Lionesses as you gather at home with friends tonight to roar on the England ladies football team. Set up a large screen or projector, arrange comfy seating and crank up your speakers for the European Championships final against Spain Then kick off the fun with these ideas . . . SNACK ATTACK: For nibbles, anything goes, as long as you can still leap up and celebrate the goals. Mini sliders, hot dogs and pizza slices will all be wolfed down, along with crisps, dips and popcorn. Enjoy the football fun with ball-shaped nibbles. Dough balls and cheese ball crisps will get your crowd going. Children will want a slice of the action with the Top Of The League football cake from Sainsbury's, £11. SING WHEN THEY'RE WINNING: Turn up those football tunes to get the crowd in the mood. Find the perfect playlists on Spotify with songs including Freed From Desire by Gala, Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond and World In Motion by New Order. Search 'Women's Euros playlist' or 'Lionesses' to get lists of kicking tunes. KICK THOSE NERVES: Feeling jittery? Channel those pre-match nerves into some games. Draw a circle on an outside wall with chalk and let the kids use it for target practice with a ball. I coached Chloe Kelly as a kid and have now spent £3,000 building my own pub to watch her at Euro 2025 For a party game, play 'put the ball in the net'. Like stick the tail on the donkey, players are blindfolded and have to stick a picture of a ball on to a picture of a football pitch. The one who gets nearest the net lifts the trophy. CELEBRATE THE WIN: Win or lose, the best tribute to the Lionesses is to get everyone enjoying football. Kellogg's has been offering 30,000 free football camp places to young fans this summer. Use the QR code on promotional packs to sign up. All prices on page correct at time of going to press. Deals and offers subject to availability 7 Deal of the day GET ready for any kind of weather with the Blooma Jarvis square gazebo from B&Q, down from £115 to £55. Cheap treat 7 TUCK into a tasty pud, with Del Monte peach slices in juice, down to £1 from £1.20 with a Tesco Clubcard. Serve with vanilla ice cream. Top swap SERVE up some summer sizzlers in the BlissHome octopus serving bowl, £77 at John Lewis. Or make the Hestia oval octopus serving plate, £22 from Dunelm, the dish of the day. Shop & save FILL your glass with Relais Du Roi Principaute d'Orange Rouge, a red wine from the Rhone Valley, down from £13 to £6 for Morrisons More card holders. Hot right now TODAY is the last day to save 25 per cent on school uniform at Tesco. Use your Clubcard to get the deal. PLAY NOW TO WIN £200 7 JOIN thousands of readers taking part in The Sun Raffle. Every month we're giving away £100 to 250 lucky readers - whether you're saving up or just in need of some extra cash, The Sun could have you covered. Every Sun Savers code entered equals one Raffle ticket.
India Today
6 days ago
- Politics
- India Today
Rulers for life: The world's enduring autocrats and their legacy
The phenomenon of these long-ruling leaders spans continents and decades, weaving a complex tale of ambition, strategy, and survival. Africa stands as a compelling epicentre of political endurance. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, who seized power in 1979 through a coup, remains the world's longest-serving non-royal head of state, eclipsing 45 years at the helm. Elections in his country exist more as formalities than genuine contests, with opposition parties offering little real challenge. Close behind is Paul Biya of Cameroon, whose near five decades in top office are legendary. Despite often governing from afar—reportedly enjoying extended stays in Swiss luxury hotels—Biya's hold on power remains ironclad. Meanwhile, Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo has served more than 38 years across two separate eras, his survival owed to a knack for reinvention as global alliances shifted. Uganda's Yoweri Museveni has steered his nation since 1986, meticulously amending laws to suit continued rule and preparing his son for succession, exemplifying the rise of dynastic Beyond Africa, the pattern repeats in different guises. Vladimir Putin of Russia has dominated Kremlin politics since 1999, cleverly redrawing constitutional boundaries to extend his reign, while Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has exercised near-absolute authority over Iran for 36 years, navigating both internal and regional upheavals. In Southeast Asia, Cambodia's Hun Sen spent nearly four decades in power before passing the premiership to his son while retaining significant influence as Senate reveals yet more tales that forged — and sometimes shattered — entire eras. Fidel Castro's rule in Cuba survived dozens of assassination attempts and entrenched his revolutionary legacy for almost half a century. Spain's Francisco Franco emerged victorious from a brutal civil war to command for 36 years, ultimately opening the door (albeit reluctantly) to democracy after his death. The iron-fisted Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) presided over one of Africa's most corrupt governments, while Ferdinand Marcos' martial law regime in the Philippines and Suharto's crony-laden New Order in Indonesia left respective legacies of repression and endemic unites these leaders is not merely brute force or ideological zeal, but a playbook honed over decades. Strategic manipulation of constitutions is a recurring motif: Uganda's Museveni abolished age limits, Putin in Russia reset term limits, and Nguesso in Congo engineered referendums for renewed legitimacy. Cults of personality also play a key role—leaders become brands, their images and eccentricities elevated into tools of rule, as seen with Mobutu's iconic attire or Castro's marathon speeches. Control of national narratives through state media, censorship, and repression of dissent remains standard practice, insulating regimes from external and internal scrutiny. Family ties and loyal inner circles further cement their grip, ensuring that ruling clans and cronies share in both the privileges and risks of extended some long-serving leaders claim to have brought stability or national pride, the consequences of prolonged rule are often dire. Democratic norms are eroded, elections become exercises in choreography, dissent is silenced, and corruption flourishes on an astonishing scale. Dynastic succession has become commonplace, with power handed from father to son in places such as Azerbaijan, Syria, and notorious figures, such as Belarus's Alexander Lukashenko and Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, have employed a blend of performance and raw force, with the people's will side-lined in favour of personal rule. In cases where these strongmen have been toppled—like Saddam Hussein in Iraq or Suharto in Indonesia—the aftermath has frequently been chaotic and fraught, underscoring the fragility of state institutions hollowed out by decades of change is stirring. From the youth movements of Havana to the digital activism blossoming across Africa and Asia, new generations are voicing dissent and demanding accountability. Whether the twenty-first century will ultimately break or entrench the legacies of these strongmen remains an open question. For now, as 2025 unfolds, the world continues to bear witness to the stubborn tenacity—with ballot or bullet—of the world's marathon rulers, even as the tide, slow but steady, hints at transformation.- Ends
LeMonde
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- LeMonde
Oasis reconnects with hometown euphoria in Manchester
Excitement was palpable in Central District, a lively neighborhood and Manchester's shopping hotspot on Friday, July 11. It was just hours before the first of five Oasis concerts in the English city, which seemed to revolve around this event alone. Under a scorching sun, Liam and Noel Gallagher's faces were everywhere: Posters were plastered on buses, lampposts and shop windows, while their hits played in every pub and store. Advertising slogans from car and clothing brands riffed on lyrics from "Rock'N'Roll Star" or" Live Forever." Most of all, the city buzzed with an extraordinary parade of T-shirts featuring the band, worn by a diverse crowd – fans of all generations, proud and happy to celebrate the return of their Britpop heroes. That night at Heaton Park, Oasis played a real homecoming show. While Cardiff in Wales had been the first stop for the band's reunion on July 4 and 5, the Manchester concerts – in the Gallaghers' native city – were the crowning moment of their comeback. Here, the famously unruly brothers were considered demigods. While Manchester boasts a rich musical heritage, from New Order to The Smiths and The Stone Roses, none have climbed the ladder of success as high as its champion, Oasis.
Economic Times
30-06-2025
- General
- Economic Times
Dealing with today, a.k.a., not a weekend
Let's begin with a collective truth: Monday is not a day. It's the tax you pay for having a weekend. A backlash for that one glorious moment on Sunday afternoon when you briefly forgot about emails, meetings and Vivek from HR who says 'per my last email' like it's a personal vendetta. So, how does one navigate this tragic weekly reboot?Lower your standards You're not conquering the world today. If you manage coffee without crying into it, you're doing better than 83% of the population (statistically unverifiable but emotionally accurate).Weaponise irony Arrive at work with an aggressively cheerful look while listening to New Order's 'Happy Monday' on earphones. That will make you look like you're not dead inside. It'll confuse your enemies. Maybe even Vivek of delusion Tell yourself this is the week you'll get organised. That this to-do list won't end like the last one: to-didn't work out. Lie to yourself, motivation Dangle tiny pleasures in front of yourself like a carrot in front of a depressed donkey. Post-lunch samosas. Rage-scrolling memes. Planning your Friday outfit on Monday. Whatever if none of this helps, remember: Monday is the universe's way of reminding you that happiness is fleeting and spreadsheets are forever. Embrace the chaos - especially when it comes next Friday.
New York Times
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
The complete history of Oasis and football
The two most fabled decades in English popular culture are, almost without question, the 1960s and the 1990s. Those periods represented peaks for the nation's two major obsessions: music and football. The 1960s provided the world with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, and England winning the World Cup. The 1990s offered Britpop, the launch of the Premier League, and England twice coming close to major tournament finals. Advertisement But there is a crucial difference. 1960s music and 1960s football were very disparate. Former Liverpool centre-forward Albert Stubbins featured on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club, and there's a wonderful clip of The Kop singing She Loves You, but The Beatles weren't terribly interested in football. Mick Jagger routinely turns up at World Cups, but is not an avid club supporter and has always been more of a cricket man. The Who frontman Roger Daltrey might be a genuine Arsenal fan, but when he performed a song entitled Highbury Highs after the final match at the club's old ground in 2006, it felt incongruous. The 1990s were different. It's almost impossible to think of English football in that decade without a soundtrack of New Order for World Cup 1990 or the Lightning Seeds in 1996. Ahead of Euro 96, The Football Association released an album entitled The Beautiful Game on RCA Records, featuring the likes of Blur, Pulp and Supergrass. 'It's clear that two cultures of music and football have never been so close,' said Rick Blaskey, who had the grand job title of 'executive producer of music for Euro 96'. 'Consequently, as this country has such a rich heritage in both, it seemed only right to use music to celebrate England hosting the European Championship.' This was marketing speak, certainly. But the 1990s were the only time it would have made sense. The poster boys, of course, were Oasis. Liam and Noel Gallagher displayed their Manchester City fandom more visibly than any other rock band had ever considered. It helped that, throughout the 1990s, City's sponsor was a Japanese electronics manufacturer named Brother. The photographer who first pictured them in those shirts, Kevin Cummins of the NME, later had a more obscure footballing link for them. 'I was going to do a shot in an alleyway,' Cummins said a few years ago in an interview with FourFourTwo. 'But because we were up at the Oxford Street end of Soho, I knew Flitcroft Street was nearby, so I said to the band we'd do it there instead. It was a nod to City midfielder Garry Flitcroft, and they loved the idea.' Advertisement By virtue of their two leaders being siblings, Oasis generally avoided the standard question in music journalism: 'How did you guys meet?' But Noel was a latecomer to Oasis, and the story involving the others is of relevance. When Liam conducted an interview alongside bassist Paul 'Guigsy' McGuigan in Los Angeles in 1995, they were asked that usual question, to which Liam had no real answer. 'I can't remember how we met,' he said, as if he'd never really considered it. 'We live in the same area,' McGuigan clarified. 'We've known each other for about 12 years. We used to play football together. Soccer. Proper game.' 'Round ball,' Liam added. And McGuigan had originally met the band's original drummer, Tony McCarroll, because they played in the same football team together. The football came first. The music came after. The most overt use of football in Oasis' lyrics is in Round Are Way, the B-side to Wonderwall, and it's about playing, rather than watching. The game is kicking off in around the park It's 25-a-side and before it's dark There's gonna be a loser And you know the next goal wins Oasis' attitude — or at least their analogies — were often shaped by football. When Noel was explaining the ambition behind his lyrics in a 1995 interview, he turned to housing. 'My songs were not written for bedsits,' he said. 'Think penthouse, not bedsit. Think mansion, not semi-detached.' But Liam interjected with something different: 'Think AC Milan, not Tranmere Rovers'. In a 1996 interview with Select Magazine, a section about their favourite records is interrupted by the sudden mention of Robin Friday, the heavy-drinking, rebellious centre-forward of the 1970s. 'Friday is Oasis' icon,' the interviewer writes. 'Understand him, and you understand them.' The Oasis obsession with Friday was such that, during his time in the band, McGuigan co-wrote a book about the striker, entitled The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw: The Robin Friday Story. It's not a particularly substantive effort, mainly consisting of match reports from the time, and some personal testimonies from his family. You'd struggle to consider it a biography. Still, it's a sideline you wouldn't expect from other rock stars, and McGuigan was a genuine football fanatic — even more so than the Gallaghers. 'I don't really do anything,' McGuigan said in 1994 Rolling Stone magazine interview.' Watching football is my main hobby. Watching football, watching videos about football, reading about football and talking about football. That's pretty much all I care about.' Guigsy, like the Gallaghers, was a City fan. Advertisement But why were they City fans? 'You just get born with it, don't ya?' explained Noel in a Sky interview ahead of the 1999 Second Division play-off final. 'Know what I mean? All my cousins, they're all United fans. For some bizarre psychedelic reason, Dad decided to take us to Maine Road first. Cheers, Dad.' But a year later, in a column for the Guardian, Noel mentioned further details. 'The reason is basically a family one — my dad hated his brothers. They were all Irish people who came over here and decided to support United. My dad chose City instead, just to piss them off. No other reason than that. Liam and I should, by rights, have been United fans.' The NME editor of the time was supposedly reluctant to feature them in City shirts too often, declaring that because City were struggling at the wrong end of the Premier League, it didn't suit a band on the up. But beyond the obvious geographic connection, it's difficult to think of a more suitable footballing fit for Oasis than 1990s City. A band who were revelling in singing about, as on Bring It On Down, being 'the outcasts' and 'the underclass' became the country's most famous supporters of a struggling club, at precisely the moment their main rivals started to dominate. The catalyst for Oasis exploding into Britain's biggest band came when they were spotted by Creation Records boss Alan McGee at a Glasgow venue in May 1993, the same month United won their first Premier League title. Definitely Maybe was released the following summer, by which point United were top of the charts in a different sense. 'The Manchester United Football Squad', backed by Status Quo, recorded Come On You Reds as their 1994 FA Cup final song. It sold 200,000 copies and spent two weeks at No 1, having entered the charts on 24th April 1994 — one week after Oasis' debut single, Supersonic, which merely peaked at No 31. But that was just the start for Oasis. And slowly, the football references crept in. The video for their second single, Shakermaker, features a brief shot of a signed Manchester City football, and then a subsequent kickabout down the park. But, quite rightly, they have clearly sourced a second football before going down the park, leaving the signed City ball unblemished. And then there was the album cover. Definitely Maybe's sleeve featured a prominent picture of City legend Rodney Marsh, and perhaps more surprisingly, a smaller picture of United hero George Best. This was due to guitarist Bonehead's affection for United, and, according to photographer Michael Spencer Jones, 'Noel and Liam allowed it, because Best sort of transcended football.' 'The United fans love him because he was such a great player,' Noel later explained. 'But City fans love him because he lived to have a good time.' Advertisement Bonehead's request was supported by drummer McCarroll, also a United fan. But Bonehead himself, whose dad was a referee in amateur levels of the game, actually came from a City-supporting family. The first match he attempted was at Maine Road, and he admits he initially followed United as an act of rebellion. He later described being in a predominantly City-supporting band in the 1990s as 'Not too difficult — obviously they couldn't shout about much on a Saturday because they hardly ever won.' In recent years, incidentally, one of Bonehead's neighbours on the outskirts of Manchester has been United midfielder Casemiro. But a funny thing about Oasis — perhaps the most famous Mancunians of recent decades, and with songs based around ordinary life — is that their lyrics were entirely neutral geographically. Other Britpop bands mentioned, for example, that their protagonists studied at St Martin's College (Pulp, Common People) or got the train to Walton (Blur, Tracy Jacks), giving some kind of reference to proceedings. The Beatles sang about locations in Liverpool (Penny Lane being the most obvious) and the Arctic Monkeys' debut album mentioned various places around Sheffield: High Green, Hillsborough, Rotherham, Hunter's Bar. But there's barely a trace of any geography in Oasis' lyrics. Noel acknowledged this in a 1995 interview. 'We don't sing about London. We don't sing about Manchester. We don't sing about Sheffield. We don't sing about England. We're just singing about life.' Indeed, Noel actually turned down the offer of writing a club song for Manchester City in the mid-1990s. 'They wanted me to write their new theme tune, but even though I'm a fan, I'm not going to sweat blood over a song unless it's for myself,' he said. 'I'm a selfish bugger and, anyway, what I am going to get to rhyme with 'City'?' On the basis of their performances at the time, that one was an open goal. But refusing to actively sing about their team, combined with the fact their team were constantly struggling, made their fandom relatable. It helped, too, that Noel was always an insightful speaker about the game. Perhaps the peak was when City signed Georgi Kinkladze, a wonderfully talented Georgian playmaker who scored some wonderful goals in the Premier League but struggled to fit into Alan Ball's system. Noel described him as 'Either the most frightening thing I've ever seen or the best thing I've ever seen,' and said he would 'Either win us the European Cup or get us relegated to the fourth division.' That sounded extreme, yet it wasn't a million miles off: City were relegated to the third tier within two years, by which point the Georgian had been signed by Ajax, who had been European champions a couple of years earlier. Incidentally, City supporters' chant for Kinkladze was to the tune of Wonderwall, featuring, 'And all the runs that Kinky makes are blinding,' then 'And after all…we've got Alan Ball.' Advertisement These days, the Britpop era is boiled down to a battle between Oasis and Blur, which is essentially the 'Steven Gerrard v Frank Lampard' debate of the 1990s (Pulp would be Paul Scholes). And while there have always been rivalries between bands — the Beatles versus the Rolling Stones — there was something about Oasis vs Blur that felt particularly football-y. There was genuine needle. Digs in interviews felt like 'mind games'. The battle naturally played out in the charts: Blur's Country House famously beat Oasis' Roll With It to No 1 on the opening weekend of the 1995-96 season. Oasis would have loved it if they beat them. Loved it. But the battle also played out on the football pitch. At Mile End Stadium in 1996, a celebrity six-a-side tournament also featuring the likes of Jarvis Cocker and Robbie Williams pitched together the lead singers: Blur's Damon Albarn playing in a blue Chelsea beanie hat, and Liam inevitably in a light blue bucket hat. And therefore the defining photo of Britpop took place on a football pitch, with a goal in the background to confirm the surroundings. For the record, Albarn's side won 2-0. Noel didn't play, despite rating himself a good centre-back, because 'I don't like anyone in showbusiness'. But on the small evidence available, Liam seems a better player: there's footage of him scoring a good goal and then celebrating with Noel in a mid-1990s Goldie documentary. Around the same time, there had been a rumour in NME Magazine that Blur and Oasis were set to collaborate on the official England song for Euro 96. 'Over my f***ing dead body,' Gallagher said in an interview with Hot Press magazine, before referencing the FA chairman of the time. 'Sir Bert Millichip probably asked the office junior at the FA who the 'happening bands' were at the moment and thought, 'Right, that's another few quid in the coffers''. He also turned down the chance to sing the national anthem before England's semi-final with Germany at Euro 96. Oasis were clearly unlikely to take up the offer to sing God Save The Queen at Wembley, perhaps unless it was the Sex Pistols track. In terms of international football, Noel has generally expressed more affection for Ireland than England, because of his Irish heritage. When asked to choose between the two in an Irish Times interview in 2015, he replied instantly. 'Oh, Republic of Ireland; I don't consider myself to be English at all.' Accordingly, he has more than a soft spot for Celtic, describing the moment the PA system played Roll With It before an Old Firm match he attended in 2000 as 'the greatest thing I've ever seen in my life.' It helped that Celtic won 6-2. Noel's annoyance with England supporters was particularly pronounced when he condemned the supporters who had rioted at Lansdowne Road in 1995. 'Ireland could have gone 6-0 down at Wembley and their fans' reaction would've been, 'Ah, f*** it, we'll have a drink', but our lot had to riot because they have this ludicrously misplaced sense of patriotism,' he said. 'There's also the small matter of the England team being shite at the moment. They only beat Japan 2-1 and afterwards you had Jimmy Hill saying, 'You have to realise they're not the soft touch they used to be.' Bollocks. We were crap and the thing that pisses me off is that we won't, as a nation, admit our faults.' The violent aspect of football fandom always irritated him. When Liam was arrested after getting into a brawl on a ferry en route to Amsterdam for Oasis' debut European tour, Noel was furious. 'If you're proud of getting thrown off ferries, then why don't you go and support West Ham and get the f*** out of my band and go and be a football hooligan?', Noel said to him in a feisty 1994 NME interview that was actually released on CD. 'Because we're musicians, right? We're not football hooligans… getting thrown off a ferry isn't rock and roll. That's football hooliganism.' Noel was generally a far-sighted fan in the 1990s, expressing frustration that the English game remained behind the times. 'It's no wonder that all these kids go round smashing up town centres when all the England players go on about is getting stuck in, standing your ground, working hard and being aggressive,' he said once said. 'The French players like ballet, man! Their supporters cause no trouble because the idols they look up to are artists. Not f***ing 'Get stuck in lads, they don't like it up 'em, foreigners.' F*** off. They're playing a different sport.' Advertisement Noel has always had a particular appreciation for foreign playmakers with flair and craft. He backed Argentina to win World Cup 1998 because he was once mesmerised by Ariel Ortega. He became friends with Alessandro Del Piero, sitting next to the Italian's wife in Dortmund when he rounded off a glorious semi-final goal against Germany at World Cup 2006. He generally names his favourite City player as David Silva. 'For me, he personified the word 'sublime',' he said in 2024. 'He was just brilliant, he made us tick, he changed the game… Kevin De Bruyne is more breathtaking because his passes are just incredible. But Dave was a beautiful, beautiful footballer — we'd never seen the likes of him.' Clearly, City have had plenty of 'his' type of footballer in recent years, a far cry from the 1990s when he said the only City player he rated was right-back Ian Brightwell. Notably, both paid tribute to Diego Maradona when he died in 2020. 'A proper rock-and-roll footballer, no f***er will ever come near,' Liam wrote on Twitter along with a photo of them together. 'Met Maradona not once but twice and he was the real f***ing deal, scary but beautiful.' Noel's tweet was more straightforward. 'Buenos Aires '97. What a life. What a legend. He was under house arrest at the time.' Maradona shakes the hand of God ! — Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) April 30, 2012 Oasis' second album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory, was released only a year after the debut, in October 1995. The recording sessions, in a house-cum-studio in Wales, can be accurately dated to May of that year, by the fact Oasis were heavily distracted by that season's title race. 'Football, man. United are f***ing losing the league, mad for it,' Liam is shown shouting into the microphone before a take for Champagne Supernova on the Supersonic documentary. He was more interested in watching Manchester United failing to defeat West Ham on the final day, therefore losing out to Kenny Dalglish's Blackburn. At full time, Liam stands in front of the television chanting Dalglish's name, before the other band members throw United fan Bonehead out of the house. The next clip is Liam having a kickabout in the garden. The peak of Oasis' touring days is often considered to be the legendary Knebworth shows in 1996. But a more personal highlight came earlier in the year, when Oasis played two dates at City's then-home, Maine Road. 'I loved standing on the terraces; it was like a gig when all the swaying started up,' Liam had previously said of his early visits. Noel had also seen the likes of Pink Floyd and Guns N' Roses at the ground. Advertisement The strange aspect about these gigs is that they happened on the penultimate weekend of the football season, in late April. Outdoor concerts in Britain at that time of year are extremely rare, because of the risk of adverse weather conditions, and the band were warned the gigs could be ruined by rain, although Noel pointed out that in Manchester, it rains all summer anyway. Committed United fan Bonehead refused to pose for the picture used on tickets for the event, while Liam wore a City player's sweatshirt on stage. 'I went backstage and there was some player's Umbro gear just sitting there and I thought, 'I'm having a bit of that', tried it on, f***ing freebie innit and, and I f***ing pinched it and f***ing wore it'. As simple as that. But this created a trend. Umbro launched an updated version earlier this year, to much acclaim from the football fashionistas. 'There are few moments and items in history that lay claim to being pivotal in the evolution of modern football culture,' read the Soccerbible website. 'But the Umbro drill top worn by Liam Gallagher on that April night at Maine Road would be one of them.' Oasis were always unashamed in their ambition and bold about conquering the world, but they were staggered by the experience of playing at their club's home stadium. 'To play at the ground of the football club you've supported all your life is, without doubt, the icing on the cake,' said Liam in 2017. 'It's downhill after that. Even Knebworth doesn't come close.' Noel said something similar a couple of years later. 'I remember sitting behind the stage at the Platt Lane end in a box and watching them dismantling the whole thing, ending up with just an empty stadium,' he said. 'I was taking the moment in, do you know what I mean? They were amazing gigs and it will never be repeated.' The following weekend at the ground, City hosted Liverpool on the final day of the season and drew 2-2, a result which confirmed their relegation. City had actually wasted time in the closing stages of the contest, wrongly believing a draw was enough to keep them up, which summed up their haplessness in this period. But, away from City, Oasis understood the importance of football to their fans. In September 1997, when they played in Newcastle, the gig clashed with Newcastle's famous 3-2 Champions League win over Barcelona. Liam wore a Newcastle shirt on stage — it probably helped that they were Manchester United's regular title challengers at this stage — and relayed the score to the crowd between songs. Oasis in the 21st century were a shadow of their 1990s peak — only a small handful of songs will feature on this summer's setlists. A rare highlight came with 2002's Stop Crying Your Heart Out, which soundtracked the BBC's montage of England's World Cup quarter-final defeat to Brazil. The single had only been released four days earlier; the Heathen Chemistry album the song was taken from was a fortnight away. In a game played on a weekday morning UK time, and watched in schools and offices around the country, England's tearful exit was the best possible promotion for the track. The montage ended with a shot of England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson; his death was announced the day before Oasis announced their reformation in late August last year. 22 years after this video, Oasis and Eriksson were on the front pages together. That World Cup montage stuck in people's minds and probably contributed to the song's surprise emergence in 2019 as a terrace chant, initially by Leeds fans repurposing the song as 'Stop crying Frank Lampard' before being sarcastically adopted by Lampard and his Derby side after they defeated Leeds in the playoffs. Advertisement Oasis' breakup in Paris in 2009 was both a long time coming, and also very sudden. Liam has repeatedly referenced a former City manager when ridiculing Noel's decision to walk away. 'He'd had enough of this 'lad' thing, and he wants to try something new — and it's not having a dig at him, but I just think he's sort of turned himself into a f***ing fake,' he said. 'I think he's done a Keegan.' In another interview, for the Supersonic documentary, Liam repeats the joke. 'I thought it was our kid just having his Kevin Keegan moment,' he says. It is particularly good analogy as it could conceivably refer to Keegan's departure from Newcastle, England, or indeed City. The Gallaghers' fandom of City has probably become more pronounced during the band's hiatus. Noel conducted the draw for the 2010-11 alongside Kasabian's Serge Pizzorno, a Leicester City supporter. Having joked beforehand that they'd like to draw out their own clubs against one another, they promptly did: Pizzorno drew Leicester as the home side, Gallagher drew City as the away side. There was a less than one per cent chance of them pulling that off. And while celebrity fans thankfully have a minor role to play in British television coverage of football, Noel has been the clearest exception. He played the role of Football Focus interviewer with Mario Balotelli in 2011 (at a time when no one in the media got an interview with the Italian) appeared on Match of the Day 2 as a pundit in 2015, then on Sky Sports as a pundit for a Manchester derby in 2017. Perhaps the highlight of that arrangement actually came, when, by way of promoting Gallagher's appearance, Paul Merson was given a charity challenge to slip in as many Oasis song titles into his Soccer Saturday punditry as possible, which he carried out remarkably smoothly. Noel was also given the honour of conducting Pep Guardiola's first interview as City manager. His prominence reached new heights last year when he was used as a co-commentator for TNT Sports' coverage of City's defeat in Lisbon to Sporting — which did feel a bit much — and he also had the ultimate honour of being interviewed in The Athletic. Meanwhile, there was a surprise starring role from Eric Cantona in Liam's video for his single Once, released in 2019. The video consists of little more than Cantona sitting around in a countryside mansion, drinking wine and lip-syncing to Liam's vocals. Cantona, according to Liam, refused any offer of payment, or assistance in travel or accommodation. Given the United-City connection, it took some time to get your head around; but then, just like George Best on the Definitely Maybe album cover, Cantona transcended both United and football. Throughout the period where they never spoke, the nearest thing to bringing Liam and Noel together was football. In 2016, both were insisting they hadn't been in touch since the breakup in 2009, with one near-miss. 'I think it was a football match in 2013 or 2014,' Liam said in a Radio X interview, when asked the last time they'd been together. 'It was a a City match. He was in one box and I was in another box, and I went into see him and I pinched his nipple and kissed him on the ear. I don't think we spoke.' Advertisement Whereas Liam used to watch City in a box rented by former midfielder Stephen Ireland, his fandom has waned slightly in recent years. 'I don't go and watch them anymore. I don't really like the Etihad,' he said to the NME in 2020. 'I don't dig it, it's like going and watching the f***ing opera.' But you can't escape Noel. He popped up in the City dressing room to sing Wonderwall with the players after the Premier League title victory in 2019. Four years later, City's players sang the same song in the dressing room after their European Cup final win over Inter (sadly without the lines about Kinkladze or Ball). City's next game against Inter also featured Oasis — their specially-designed Puma kit was a curious cream-blue number that was inspired by the cover art for Definitely Maybe. You'd probably have struggled to spot the resemblance had you not been told. But it completed a neat cycle: the album cover featured a player in a City shirt, and now a City shirt was inspired by the album cover. Noel also apparently had a role in designing the font for the back of City's shirts last season. He's still on good terms with Guardiola, and his refusal to join in the 'Poznan' a couple of years ago away at Fulham proved very popular and led to, it must be acknowledged, some excellent puns. 'He sees things they'll never see' worked particularly well. Oasis' initial demise coincided almost perfectly with City's rise. The band's last gig was on August 22nd 2009, the same day as City's first home match that season — the first full season of the current ownership, when they ultimately ended in fifth, at the time their best finish in the Premier League era. On that final tour, Oasis played three dates at Wembley Stadium. The previous time City had played at Wembley was a decade earlier, for the memorable win over Gillingham. That was in the third tier, and at the old stadium. (Even accounting for the seven-year rebuilding period, City wouldn't have been at Wembley in that time — they never played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.) Noel Gallagher speaking ahead of Manchester City's play-off final against Gillingham. — Sky Sports Retro (@SkySportsRetro) May 21, 2022 And now, between Oasis gigs — summer 2009 to summer 2025 — City have played at Wembley 31 times: 10 FA Cup semi-finals, six FA Cup finals, six League Cup finals, seven Community Shield finals and two Premier League matches (when Tottenham were between grounds). It's a far cry from 1995, when Gallagher said of City, 'Hopefully they'll win something while I'm alive. But I wouldn't put money on it.' This summer, Oasis will play seven dates at Wembley. They'll also play the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where City will hope to win the Club World Cup final this summer, and where the World Cup final will be played next year. The one disappointment is they won't be playing the Etihad, where they played in 2005, and where Liam played a solo gig in 2022, because it is undergoing renovations. But the tour will finish in South America, where Oasis will play at the legendary home grounds of River Plate and Sao Paulo. Advertisement Rock music is sometimes an awkward fit in a football ground, and Oasis haven't always excelled at these big stadium gigs. But over the last three decades, Oasis and football, perhaps more than any other band and any other sport, has always felt like a natural combination. (Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; James Gill – Danehouse; Avalon; Neil Mockford; Getty Images)
