Music fans across the world, not just in Manchester, are rejoicing as iconic British rock band Oasis revealed their reunion on Tuesday morning.
Liam and Noel Gallagher, famously Manchester City fans, have been feuding ever since Noel’s exit from the band in 2009. However, at 8 am on Tuesday, Oasis’ long-awaited return tour was announced.
Noel in particular has remained a public figure in the City world. From Noel’s U-turn on Josko Gvardiol to his celebrating with Pep Guardiola on the Etihad pitch, it’s fair to say that the band’s songwriter has become one of the key spokespeople of the Manchester City fanbase.
The band even have links to the current City squad, with Rico Lewis’ grandfather touring with Oasis as a bass guitar player.
The brothers will be returning to perform together in Manchester for the first time in 15 years when they play in Heaton Park on the weekends of the 11th and 19th July 2025.
Hundreds of thousands of fans will be scrambling to secure tickets when they come on sale this Saturday. The band will surely attract some famous faces to the concerts, perhaps including a former World Cup winner who once flirted with signing for City due to his love for Oasis.
Former City target Daniele De Rossi revealed he knows Oasis songs “off by heart”
Years on from his speculated move to Manchester City in 2012, AS Roma icon Daniele De Rossi revealed that the opportunity to meet the Gallagher brothers was a factor in his consideration over the move.
Speaking in a ‘inside the mind’ piece on the official AS Roma website, he said:
“There was a lot of talk about me moving to Manchester City a few years ago but I’ve never wanted to leave Rome. What excited me the most about that prospect, however, was the fact that I could have met the Gallagher brothers.”
Revealing that the Manchester group were the band of his “teenage years”, De Rossi went on to compliment the Gallagher brothers specifically.
He said: “I liked those guys, they were real characters. They weren’t always conventional or very easily approachable but I really liked the stereotype they represented – rock stars off their heads.”
Could De Rossi have helped City retain the Premier League in 2012?
Signing a former World Cup winner, who would’ve been in the prime of his career at 29, could well have been the statement purchase needed to help Manchester City retain the Premier League title in the 2012/13 season.
City eventually signed Spaniard Javi García to anchor the midfield that summer, but the thought of an experienced leader like De Rossi, partnering with Yaya Toure and David Silva could’ve made Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United tremble.
It wasn’t to be for the now AS Roma manager, though, who will live forever as a Roman legend for his commitment to the club.
Manchester City fans have gone on to see some of the greats of the modern era pull on the sky-blue shirt, singing Oasis tunes on their way to domestic and European glory.
De Rossi won’t be looking back in anger at his past opportunities to sign for City and meet his teenage music idols, but will he be in the crowd belting their songs out next summer? Definitely, maybe.
