Did AFL legend Kevin Sheedy help facilitate the rekindling of British rockstars Liam and Noel Gallagher?
The iconic Oasis duo were infamously estranged for 15 years after an acrimonious breakup of the band in 2009.
That was until announcing in recent days that they would reform for a string of blockbuster shows in 2025 — news that Oasis fans had only dreamed would ever happen.
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Sheedy is one of the greatest coaches in the history of Australian football, famous for his work as an orator, innovator and communicator.
And in the early 2010s, the former Essendon and GWS Giants coach even added celebrity mediator to his extraordinary resume.
Sheedy became the inaugural coach of the Giants in 2012 and led the expansion team through their first two seasons, during which time he got the chance to meet legendary English Premier League football manager, Sir Alex Ferguson.
Giants CEO Dave Matthews and Sheedy travelled to England to watch a Manchester derby and meet Ferguson as guests of Nike.
“We were being hosted by Nike in their suite, the game was at Man City, and they said there’s a chance Liam Gallagher from Oasis is going to be in the suite,” Matthews said on the BackChat podcast last year.
“We settled into our seats on the plane, and they (Nike) said you might want to just let him (Sheedy) know (what to expect), because he (Gallagher) can be a bit erratic, a bit unpredictable. He may not even turn up.
“I told Sheeds, I said, ‘Look, Liam Gallagher from Oasis may well be in this suite’. He’d never heard of him. And I said, ‘Look, when you were coaching in the early ‘90s, ask (James) Hird and (Matthew) Lloyd and (Scott) Lucas and these guys, they’d know him — Oasis were probably the biggest band in the world at the time’.
“So, I pulled the old iPod out and I’m playing him some songs as we’re flying over, and he’s saying things like, ‘’Dont Look Back In Anger, where was this when Essendon sacked me? What a song’.”
Given Sheedy had no idea who Gallagher was, or what the rockstar’s chequered history with his brother Noel looked like, but Matthews was desperate to warn him about what they could be walking into.
“I said, ‘He (Gallagher) might be in the suite. There are two quick rules they’ve given us: don’t ask for a photo, and don’t talk to him about his brother, because he and Noel have had this massive breakup, so you can’t talk to him about that’,” Matthews continued.
“We get into the suite and he’s not there at the start. (We) introduce ourselves around, and suddenly he comes breezing in with this massive glass of champagne and he’s announced himself.
“So, he walks around and he’s introducing himself to everyone, and he says to Sheeds, ‘Oh, you’re the manager?’ And Sheeds says, ‘Well we call it a coach, but yeah. How’d you know that?’ And he (Gallagher) goes, ‘Because my security guard here is from Australia, he’s from Western Australia actually’.
“Sheeds goes, ‘Why have you got an Australian looking after you?’ And he said, ‘Because if a fight breaks out, I want an Australian with me. He says he knows your game; how good were you?’
“And Sheeds says, ‘Oh, I was OK’. And Gallagher said to him something like, ‘Did you ever play in front of 300,000 in Brazil?’ And Sheeds said, ‘No, the best I ever did was 100,000 a week for 22 weeks for 27 years at the MCG — did Oasis ever do that?’
“And Gallagher says, ‘Touché!’”
Suddenly Sheedy had the attention and respect of Gallagher, who then proceeded to break and reverse his own rule when he asked the AFL coach for a photo.
“We watched the rest of the game and these guys are getting on like a house on fire,” Matthews went on.
“At half-time, he (Gallagher) was talking to Sheeds, and he said, ‘We should get a photo — he asked for a photo’.”
But the photo was nothing compared to the surprise that came next.
“Everyone was (listening to them), you could hear a pin drop, and Sheeds says, ‘How’s your brother going?’ And I’m like, ‘Oh no, what are you doing? Didn’t we agree on (not saying) that?’” Matthews said.
“And Gallagher said, ‘I’ll f****** tell you how he’s going, he’s in a box over there with Tom Cruise, and I’m here with you, you geezer’. Cruise was in town promoting his new Mission Impossible film.
“He said, ‘Look, you want to know how my brother’s going? We’re getting offered a lot of money to get back together and play again’.
“And Sheeds said, ‘No, no, I don’t care about your music — I don’t even know it. I’m just saying life’s short mate, build a bridge with your brother, you’ve got to get back together. And do it out of the spotlight, just reconnect, mate. I’ve dealt with my own family and I’ve dealt with a lot of families and I just think it’s a huge mistake you’re making’.”
The room was stunned.
Billion-dollar company Nike had specifically told Matthews and Sheedy not to get a photo with Gallagher, and certainly not to bring up the feud with Noel.
Not only had Sheedy now done both of those two things, he was even gaining respect from the rocker for it.
“Gallagher said something like, ‘You know what, I’ve engaged five lawyers and I’m paying them a lot of money, and no one’s given me as good advice as that’,” Matthews said.
“And they just got on really, really well. It was a bizarre situation to be in.”
Matthews didn’t specify the year in which it happened, but Alex Ferguson coached Manchester United until 2013, which means it had to be before the end of that year.
And Sheedy didn’t start coaching GWS until 2012, so it had to be after then.
Now, was a conversation between Sheedy and Liam Gallagher more than 10 years ago the reason Oasis are getting back together? Unlikely.
But Sheedy can have that effect on people.
