How football has changed since Oasis’ last gig, from their beloved Man City’s 115 charges to Chelsea signing 133 players
OASIS announced one of the most sought-after reunions in British music history on Tuesday morning.
The legendary rock band will play a host of huge shows next summer as brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher put their differences to one side, 15 years after splitting up in acrimonious circumstances.
Since the band broke up, the Gallagher’s beloved Manchester City have gone from strength to strength.
After winning their first top-flight league title in 44 years in 2012 and regaining it in 2014, the arrival of Pep Guardiola has brought six triumphs in as many years.
And it is not just at the Etihad where huge changes have occurred, but across the football landscape as a whole.
Here are 15 ways the game has [or has not] changed since Oasis‘ split.
Man City charged
The Gallagher brothers have watched their beloved Man City win EIGHT Premier League titles since the band split.
Yet a number of those could be in jeopardy if they are found guilty of the 115 charges facing them.
A hearing into alleged financial irregularities is scheduled for November, with relegation from the Premier League potentially on the cards should they be on the wrong end of the ruling.
Chelsea sign 133 players
Back in 2009, Chelsea were still in the early years of their Roman Abramovich era, spending at will and competing for Premier League titles.
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Nowadays, they are continuing to splash the cash but with less on-field success under new American owner Todd Boehly.
All told, they have spent more than £2.5BILLION and signed a remarkable 133 PLAYERS.
More than £1bn of that has come since Boehly took over just two years ago.
Cristiano Ronaldo returns to Man Utd
Cristiano Ronaldo left Manchester United to join Real Madrid just two months before Oasis’ final gig.
He spent nearly a decade in Spain, establishing himself as one of the all-time greats, before enjoying three years in Italy with Juventus.
In 2021, he returned to Man Utd for a second spell and scored 27 goals in 54 games, but ultimately left just over a year later after falling out with manager Erik ten Hag.
From England to Spain to Italy and back, Ronaldo is now winding down his career in Saudi Arabia with Al-Nassr.
Leicester win Premier League
Leicester‘s last 15 years has been an astonishing rollercoaster ride.
In the season before Oasis split, the Foxes had just been promoted into the Championship.
Five years later they made it into the Premier League and within two years their fairytale was complete as they became champions in the most breathtaking fashion.
And their story did not end there. They narrowly avoided the drop, won the FA Cup, got relegated and promoted back to the Premier League all within the following decade.
England reach back-to-back Euros finals
In 2009, England were coming off the back of failing to qualify for the Euros.
They had not reached the semi-final of a major tournament since 1990 and things continued to look bleak when Fabio Capello’s men were thrashed 4-1 by Germany in the last-16 of the World Cup 12 months later.
Enter Gareth Southgate in 2016 who led England to the semi-finals of World Cup 2018, before back-to-back Euros finals.
Unfortunately, he departed this summer without a trophy, but the progression from laughing stocks to the nearly men of international football is stark.
Record transfer fees and wage increases
The money in football has risen to astonishing heights over the last 15 years.
Ronaldo’s record transfer from Man Utd to Real Madrid had just been completed for £80m in 2009.
Eight years later and that record had more than doubled to £198m when Neymar moved from Barcelona to PSG.
And it is not just transfer fees that have soared. Wages have also gone to stratospheric levels.
Carlos Tevez was the highest-paid player in the Premier League when Oasis split, receiving £250,000 per week.
Nowadays that would not even see him make the top 10 in England’s top flight.
Tottenham fail to win a trophy
A lot has changed in football over the last 15 years but some things remain the same.
Tottenham‘s last trophy triumph came 18 months before Oasis split when they beat Chelsea to lift the 2008 League Cup.
Since then they have finished second in the Premier League, reached a Champions League final and two League Cup finals… but a trophy has still eluded them.
Messi and Ronaldo win 12 Ballon d’Ors
When Oasis split, up Lionel Messi did not have any Ballon d’Or awards to his name.
His first came four months later and he has gone on to pick up another SEVEN – the last of which came after he led Argentina to World Cup glory.
Yet despite his dominance, he has been pushed all the way by long-time rival Ronaldo who has won the award five times – four of which came after Oasis broke up.
Luka Modric and Karim Benzema are the only players outside Messi and Ronaldo to have won the Ballon d’Or since 2009.
24 Watford managers
Malky Mackay had just begun his second stint with Watford when the Gallagher brothers called it quits.
He was at the helm for two years, longer than all of the 23 managerial spells that have followed over the course of the last 15 years.
From Sean Dyche to Gianfranco Zola, Marco Silva, Claudio Ranieri, Roy Hodgson, and now Tom Cleverley – who had not even made his Man Utd debut when Oasis broke up – it has been non-stop change at Vicarage Road.
VAR
Remember football without VAR?
After Oasis ceased to exist, football remained without VAR technology for another 10 years.
Goal-line technology was introduced in 2014, but it was not until 2019 when VAR came into the Premier League.
It remains up for discussion whether it has helped or hindered the game.
Luis Suarez’s biting
Luis Suarez had not even signed for Liverpool when Oasis split. He had just scored 28 goals for Ajax and was about to bag 49 in 48 matches in the 2009/10 season.
He would go on to enjoy a storied career at Liverpool, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, but it is his habit of BITING opposition players that he also made headlines for.
He first sunk his teeth into PSV Eindhoven’s Otman Bakkal in 2010, before he came to England and did the same to Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic in 2013.
But he did not learn as he then bit Giorgio Chiellini at the 2014 World Cup and received a four-month suspension from all football which delayed his Barcelona debut.
Rooney didn’t have hair
Wayne Rooney was at the peak of his powers back in 2009 and about to score 34 goals in the 2009/10 season.
But it is safe to say his hairline was struggling despite the England striker being just 24 years old.
Now in 2024, the new Plymouth boss has a far stronger head of hair thanks to a transplant.
Milner set to win Young Player of the Year
In 2009, James Milner was about to kick off his third season with Aston Villa – a Premier League campaign that would earn them the Young Player of the Year award.
A decade and a half on and Milner is still playing in the Premier League.
The Brighton man, 38, a three-time Premier League and Champions League winner, is now just 17 shy of Gareth Barry’s Prem appearance record of 653.
Neville and Carragher still enemies
Manchester United legend Gary Neville and Liverpool icon Jamie Carragher were still bitter rivals facing off against one another 15 years ago.
Fast-forward to the present day and they are now good friends working together on a weekly basis for Sky Sports.
Many would have said back in 2009 a Neville-Carragher partnership was less likely than an Oasis reunion.
How times change.
Lamine Yamal was two years old
Spain superstar Lamine Yamal won the European Championship this summer as he scored in the semi-final and was named the Young Player of the Tournament having started the competition aged 16.
And rewinding to Oasis’ break-up is a good way of demonstrating just how young the Barcelona forward is.
Yamal had just celebrated his second birthday when the Gallagher brothers’ bust-up caused the band to split.