Robbie Williams has hailed Noel Gallagher as a “great comedic writer” of insults.

Williams had a long-running feud with Oasis that started when Noel called him “the fat dancer from Take That” and also saw Williams challenge Liam Gallagher to a televised boxing match with a £100,000 prize at the 2000 BRIT Awards.

More recently, Noel dismissed Williams’ classic song ‘Angels’ as “Oasis-by-numbers”

Speaking to NME though, Williams has praised Noel as a “great comedic writer”.

“There was a lot of back-and-forth about a lot of different people,” Williams said. “And it wasn’t that I was hurt that it was said; it was just fucking annoying that it stuck. But, you know: Noel’s really good at that stuff. He’s said a lot of incredible quotes that stick.

“He’s got that sort of brain for those things that cut through the chaff and stay around.”

Williams went on to say that he believes “we lived in a more fun time” of pop star feuds in the ‘90s and early ’00s, compared to today’s modern pop cultural sensibilities that champion niceness.

“It was more heady, more controversial, more saying things for the sake of grabbing headlines. You know, it was like wrestling – and I love that,” Williams told NME.

“It was a fun aspect of the industry at the time… wearing your spite on your sleeve. Wearing your opinions on your sleeve, be they toxic or not, is just more interesting than what’s happening now, or is being allowed to happen… I kind of miss those days.

“Even though that was aimed at me, it’s like… we’re not allowed to do that shit anymore and it’s a shame.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Williams said he does the same thing “musically” that Morrissey and Elton John do, compared his weekend at Glastonbury 1995 to “Putin turning up in Westminster”, and hit out at Damon Albarn over his inaccurate past claim that Taylor Swift “doesn’t write her own songs”.

“I think that when people say that, what they’re actually doing is having a wank about themselves,” Williams explained.