Cheryl and Louis 'never liked each other' - Cowell

Cowell, talking to Richard Arnold on Good Morning Britain, kept mum on whether Walsh would be returning to this year's X Factor judging panel.

"I'm not sitting there in the dark going, 'You know what, today I'll fire Louis'. It's what it is, you know. But it does irritate me sometimes, thinking I'm not the only person making this decision," he said.

Fernandez-Versini and Walsh had a recent war of words on Twitter after he told Heat magazine that "Cheryl wasn't great last year, she's sometimes lazy and lacks energy. She needs to give more, she can give so much more".

Fernandez-Versini hit back on her Twitter feed.

"I am beginning to wonder if Louis has some kind of an obsession with me," she wrote.

"I mean, this is every year whether I am or am not a part of the show and, by the way, this is the same man asking me what he should say to contestants on our way to the stage because 'he doesn't know'.

"Dear Lou Lou. Try using your mouth to say something positive about something positive."

Cowell said "there was always going to be a clash".

"They've never liked each other, those two. When Cheryl was in Girls Aloud he was their manager. Now, Louis managing a girl band, disaster, he just doesn't do it well," he said.

He also spoke about his son Eric, saying: "I always believe in that apprentice thing, where you learn from other people, and that's what I would say to him - start at the bottom and you get to find out who you like and how you communicate with people. Oh, and be kind to animals."