Confusing reports also regarding Robbie's upcoming new album 'Rudebox', which is due out in a fortnight.
What we do know is that former Take That manager Nigel Martin-Smith has come through with his threat of legal action regarding the track '1990s' which was set to appear on the new long player, and which was distributed in early promo versions. As previously reported, Martin-Smith reckons certain lyrics in that song, in which Robbie makes accusations against his former manager, amount to libel (the Sun's Victoria Newton wrote on Friday that she couldn't reprint the offending lyrics for legal reasons - and I'm assuming her lawyers know about these things - so we won't either; but basically Robbie accuses Martin-Smith of being either incompetent or corrupt in his management of the boy band's affairs). Martin-Smith has launched legal proceedings against both Robbie and EMI, to the tune of £300,000.
As that lawsuit works its way through court, the question now is what does the legal action mean for the planned release of the album? The track was removed from some promo versions of the long player, and some speculate that it won't now appear on the final release either. Others say a new version of the track with the offending lyrics edited out is more likely. Either way, some say that the legal problems mean that the album simply won't be ready in time for its 23 Nov release, meaning an expensive rejig of marketing plans may be required. We await confirmation from EMI.
Meanwhile, even if the lyrics, or the entire song, are removed from the album when it is released, Williams may still find himself facing the libel proceedings because the lyrics have been in circulation, and Robbie is reported to have 'mouthed them' at a recent gig. Moreover, Williams has, so far, been seemingly unwilling to renounce the accusations made in the song. Meaning the singer and his former manager may well end up in court once more (Martin-Smith successfully sued Williams for breach of contract after his initial split from Take That).