Robbie Williams appeared on This Morning with Philip & Holly to talk about, among other things, his recent performance at the World Cup. The singer performed the opening ceremony of the tournament last Thursday and during one of his numbers, gave the middle finger to the cameras, much to the surprise of millions of viewers.

The response of Twitter was extremely mixed with some calling the singer a ‘legend’ while others had some very colourful language to describe him.

Philip and Holly asked Robbie what was going through his mind during that moment. If you were wondering whether there was any kind of political meaning behind the gesture, or whether it was a jab at those who criticised the singer for ‘selling out’ by taking the gig, it turns out there was no reason behind it, according to Robbie, at all. It was just some good old-fashioned spontaneity.

“I can’t trust me,” Robbie said. “The last thing I said to my manager before I sat down on this sofa here was ‘What could go wrong?’ Because I don’t know what I’m going to do at any time. There was no plan.

“The plan was sing in key and don’t fall over. That was the plan.”

Upon being pressed if the whole thing was really not planned at all, he continued: “Nothing actually pops into my head. It’s like there’s a block between me and sense. Then something happens and five minutes later, I’m like, ‘Did I just…? Yeah I did, didn’t I?’”

Williams was also asked about the reports that he and his wife Ayda Field are being lined up as next 'X Factor' judges, saying that his tendency to do things without thinking could impact the live shows negatively.

As for whether the reports are true or not, he said “people are talking but there’s nothing signed,” adding: “but watch this space.”