Noel Gallagher has told to Ian Wright which footballers he’d want in his band.
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The High Flying Birds frontman and former Oasis guitarist, vocalist and songwriter appeared on the pundit and former footballer’s podcast Wrighty’s House this week for a live special recorded at Spotify‘s HQ.
Speaking to co-host Ryan Hunn alongside Wright’s son, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Gallagher went straight in with Mario Balotelli when asked which footballers he’d have in his band.
“I’d have Balotelli in it. The first gangster footballer,” Gallagher said, before recalling a story about the Italian player who used to play for Manchester City.
“I was at training once and we come in and [Balotelli’s] camouflage Bentley was parked sideways in the carpark,” Gallagher said. “We’d watch City training and he was the best in training I’d ever seen anyone. He was insane. And as we left a story was breaking that he’d left a Liverpool strip club at 5am that morning and gone straight to training where he was running rings round everybody. He was insane.”
Gallagher continued, addressing Balotelli’s ‘Why always me?’ shirt, which the ex-Man City player wore during a 2011 match against Manchester United in response to a barrage of press attention.
“Have you heard the story about the, ‘Why always me?’ shirt?” Gallagher asked Wrighty’s House.
“So, my office are legendary for getting the wrong end of the stick of things. My manager called me and said, ‘You know when you’re up in Manchester, do you want to do an interview with Mario Balotelli?’ So I said, ‘Yeah, alright’. It’s for Football Focus and I’m there waiting for training to finish, and the guy says, ‘Do you want to see the questions?’ and I said,‘I don’t like to see the questions before the interview’ and he said, ‘But you’re asking him the fuckking questions’ and I’m like, ‘What?’ And then he walks in and I’ve got to interview him. I’m like, ‘What the fuck?’
Gallagher continued: “So I was saying to him about the, ‘Why always me shirt?’ and I asked where it was and he said, ‘Oh I don’t know, it’s in a holdall somewhere in my flat in Milan.’ And I said jokingly, ‘Can I have it?’ and he said, ‘Yeah, yeah, you can have it no problem.’ And I’ve seen him a couple of times after and said, ‘Can I have that shirt?’ and he’s saying, ‘Yeah no problem.’
“Then I’m away on tour in South Korea and my PA Kat rings me and says I have parcel from Man City […] I said, ‘Open it, and she says it’s a shirt that says ‘Why always me?’ on it. And I was like, ‘Fuck off. Fucking no way.’ So I ask her to take a photo of it, got it on my iPad and I go and do the gig and looking at the picture in the hotel room after thinking, ‘I cannot believe he’s given me that massive piece of… hang on a minute, that doesn’t look right – the question mark is just a fucking letter ‘g’ turned upside down.”
Gallagher went on: “So I’ve Googled the actual shirt and it’s not the actual shirt! So I’ve called the kitman who I know and said, ‘Is this the real shirt?’ and he said, ‘No, he was so embarrassed that he offered it to you that I’ve just made one up for you.’ And I said, ‘But it’s not even a real fucking question mark!’ I still got it framed at home though.”
Wrighty’s House is available every Wednesday and Friday on Spotify.
The news follows Gallagher saying that he thinks the sitcom Friends and coffee culture are to blame for declining music sales.