Olly Murs: 'Robbie's a really good mate now'

Olly Murs: 'Robbie's a really good mate now'
Olly Murs: 'Robbie's a really good mate now' (Image credit: PA Wire/Press Association Images)

Robbie Williams has invited The X Factor runner-up Olly Murs to play football with him at his Los Angeles mansion. The pair have become 'good mates' after meeting on The X Factor and Robbie, 35, has been bombarding Olly, 25, with texts and phonecalls. Olly told The Sun: "Robbie's a really good mate of mine now - great lad - we just clicked straight away - he rang me and told me he was gutted I didn't win, but that he wishes me all the best. "He wants me to go to his house in LA after The X Factor tour. He's got a football pitch in his garden and wants me to come over and play football with him. "He's invited me to Soccer Aid as well, which I'm really chuffed about. I'm living the boyhood dream - I'm going to play at Old Trafford and I'm a massive Man Utd fan. Robbie was amazing to work with and it's been an absolute pleasure." The aspiring pop star said he'd love to work with Robbie, who he sang a duet with on the X Factor, but he needs to focus on his own music first. Olly said: "I'd love to work with Robbie more - maybe a Christmas duet for next year! But I've got to get a couple of albums under my belt for now. "If he asked me to support him I'd be over the moon. He's an incredible guy, but I've got to focus on getting a pop career now or I'll have nothing to sing."

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.