Harry Redknapp book: The Premier League changed everything - no more throwing teacups or players eating pies

Italian striker Di Canio even brought along his fitness coach to training

Paolo Di Canio (left) and Harry Redknapp during West Ham training (GETTY IMAGES)

Harry Redknapp tells how that the Premier League revolutionised football, and that the days of throwing tea cups at players and having pies on the menu after training were gone.

In his latest book, A Man Walks On To a Pitch, Redknapp writes about how everything changed when the Premier League started 12 years ago.

"When we first heard about the Premier League, we all thought it was just a change of name. Division One was now going to be called the Premier League - but what a load of rubbish that turned out to be," Redknapp wrote the book, which is being serialised in the Daily Mail.

"Once the new league started in 1992, everything about our game changed.

"The days of walking in, shouting and screaming and throwing teacups at players were gone. There is no point effing and blinding at a player who can hardly speak English."

After Di Canio joined the club in January 1998, Redknapp said the Italian brought along his fitness coach to the club's Chadwell Heath training ground.

"I remember Paolo Di Canio brought his fitness coach to West Ham. The food at the training ground changed, too.

"Lunches at Chadwell Heath had barely altered since my day - steak and kidney pie, loads of potatoes, anything you could get. By the end of that first season with Paolo’s man, everyone had their own tailored, balanced food intake and a special dietician supervised that regime."