Simon Cowell makes a cruel dig at One Direction's Niall Horan

It’s safe to say that Simon Cowell has crossed at least two members of One Direction off his Christmas card list this year, with the music mogul being left fuming after Liam Payne and Niall Horan abandoned his SyCo record label and signed for solo deals elsewhere.

Simon previously made a swipe at Liam for being “disloyal” after he allegedly went behind his former manager’s back for his solo career, with Irish Niall soon following – and now Niall is in Si’s firing line.

Speaking to The Mirror, the father-of-one couldn’t resist making a dig at the blonde star, who released his first solo single, ‘This Town’, earlier this month.

The track only reached number nine in the UK charts – and it didn’t escape Simon’s attention.

Speaking to The Mirror, Si sniped: “He probably would have had a number one single if he’d stayed with me.

“But you know who does have a number one this week? James Arthur. Very pleased he’s back with us with a fantastic record. Hashtag loyalty.”

Simon was left particularly red-faced when Niall signed with Capitol Records because he’d already publicly said that he expected the singer to remain with him, praising his loyalty.

The X Factor judge previously said: “I think they’re all gonna do great. Niall is the most loyal. We are expecting to announce something soon with him. I’ve always known he’s loyal.”

Awkward.

The comments come at the end of a rather bad week for Niall, who was left stunned when a ‘fan’ called into a live radio interview only to tell the star that “nobody really cares about him anymore”.