Kevin Sheedy may well be one of the greatest man managers in the history of the AFL but the coaching icon has taken it to the next level by ending the legendary feud that split up Oasis.
Earlier this week, it was confirmed that the Gallagher brothers, Liam and Noel, had finally put their bad blood behind them and were reuniting for 14 shows across five cities across the UK.
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The band is set to play Cardiff, Manchester, London, Edinburgh and Dublin, with other possible dates — and potentially a world tour — yet to be announced.
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“This is it, this is happening,” they confirmed, much to the delight of fans.
It’s left fans racing to get tickets with some already reselling for as much as $12,000 just hours after the band’s first pre-sale.
But that the band is back 15 years after their break up in 2009 is just part of the story.
Now 76, Sheedy famously coached Essendon to four premierships over 27 years and was the inaugural coach of the GWS Giants in 2012 and 2013.
Which led to a wild story Giants CEO Dave Matthews told Will Schofield and Dan Const’s BackChat Podcast last year.
The podcast’s X account posted the video earlier this week, writing: “This is INSANE. Kevin Sheedy is probably the reason why Oasis is getting back together.”
Matthews spoke about a time he and Sheedy went to meet legendary Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson at a Manchester derby 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 began.
“We settled into our seats on the plane, and they (Nike) said you might want to just let him know, 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, ‘f**k, Dont Look Back In Anger, where was this when Essendon sacked me? What a song’.”
“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 break-up, so you can’t talk to him about that’.
“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 f**king 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 f**king 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 f**king Oasis ever do that?’
“And Gallagher says, he’s got his champagne, he says ‘f**king touche!’”
It was enough to endear the Aussie legend to the British icon with Matthews saying “they got on like a house on fire”.
“At halftime, he’s talking to Sheeds, and he said, ‘We should get a photo — he asked for a photo’,” Matthews said.
“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?’
“And Gallagher said, ‘I’ll f**king tell you how he’s going, he’s in a box over there with Tom Cruise, and I’m here with you, you geezer’.
“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’.
“And everyone was like … (stunned). Gallagher said something like ‘I’ve engaged five lawyers and I’m paying them a lot of money and no one’s given me any advice as good as that’.
“And they just got on really, really well. It was a bizarre situation to be in.”
While Matthews didn’t give an exact date the meeting happened, the Giants CEO said it was a Manchester derby won by the Red Devils 2-1 after Sheedy started with the Giants in 2012 and before Sir Alex Ferguson retired in May 2013.
There is a game that matches that description — April 8 2013 (UK time) at Old Trafford, a month before Ferguson retired.
GWS had played on the Saturday that week — it’s not inconceivable that Matthews and Sheedy could have got there.
Obviously it’s unlikely a conversation between an Aussie coach who didn’t know Oasis and the Oasis frontman who only knew an AFL “manager” through his bodyguard will have made the difference in repairing one of music’s biggest rifts 11 years later.
But we’re more than happy to give Sheeds the credit for sowing the seeds.
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