Cheryl Cole has just started as an X Factor judge, and already she is laying the boot into her old manager, Louis Walsh.

When Cheryl Cole’s group, Girls Aloud, won ‘Pop Star: The Rivals’ in 2002 they inherited Louis Walsh as their manager but later sacked him saying that he was uninterested in the group.

So when an auditionee began to praise Louis at a recent audition she felt compelled to point out his weaknesses.

A show source told The Sun: “The contestants said they wanted to have Louis as a boss and Cheryl piped up and joked ‘No you don’t!’

“With a grin on her face she told them Louis was a rubbish manager - obviously in reference to when he was in charge of Girls Aloud.

“Other than that, the judges have been getting on well. There’s lots of smiling and joking and Cheryl was playing her part and being vocal about the acts she liked and disliked.”