Robbie Williams' rest advice

Dec 6, 2007, 11:30 GMT

Robbie Williams needs to take a five-year break, according to his former manager.

The 'Angels' singer was ordered this week to pay Take That creator Nigel Martin-Smith £500,000 after attacking him on his 'Rudebox' album and Martin-Smith has claimed Robbie is a shadow of the star he once was.

He said: "Rob should have five years off as he can't swim against the tide of popularity.

"He needs to take some time off and stop loving himself so much."

Martin-Smith - who assembled the boy band in 1990 - also claimed Robbie should step out of the limelight to let Take That, who recently reformed without him, have their moment in the spotlight.

He said: "He's on the wane and Take That are on the up. Robbie should let the boys have their time in the sun."

In his song, 'The 90s', Robbie accused Martin-Smith of stealing money from Take That's tour payments and sang about gouging the 49-year-old music mogul's eyes out. The track was eventually removed from 2006's 'Rudebox' when Martin-Smith launched legal action.

Despite his court victory, Martin-Smith insisted he never wanted money from Robbie and just wanted him to apologise.

He said: "I never wanted any money off him, it wasn't about that. This could have been settled a long time ago, but he wouldn't apologise. He refused point blank to meet me or read any letters that I sent him to resolve."

The pair have already had dealings in court. In 1997, Nigel sued Robbie for breach of contract after he left Take That.

(C) BANG Media International