From beans to broccoli: the culinary revolution shaping English football

It is not quite true to say that the 'v' word has become only a recent addition to the footballer's lexicon. While sitting at a hotel dining room with his Nottingham Forest team on the eve of one particular away match, Brian Clough saw to it that himself and his players were given a good serving of meat and was then asked by the waiter: "What about the vegetables?"

The immortal reply: "Oh, they'll have the same as me."

It is only in relatively recent times, though, that vegetables other than the baked bean in tomato sauce have crept on to the professional footballer's menu.

Indeed, when Newcastle United were managed by Kevin Keegan in the Premier League last time round, the team bus would routinely make the detour off the A1 to pick up a bulk order of fish suppers from the Wetherby Whaler. That, admittedly, was a ritual carried out post-match and on the road, but it was a measure of changed times that the Newcastle United to which Keegan returned last month happened to have a dietician employed as part of Sam Allardyce's backroom army. Damien Duff, by all accounts, was not a happy soul when he was told to cut out all potatoes and pasta.

It has been no coincidence that the changing of the menu has coincided with a changing of coaching influences from a domestic to a foreign flavour.

Arsène Wenger might as well have arrived with a chef's hat together with his professorial air when he breezed into Highbury 12 years ago. Ian Wright and others did not take kindly to the staple diet of steak and chips being swapped for grilled broccoli, though that changed when the dreaded green stuff proved to be part of a potent, all-embracing recipe for success.

Wenger might hail from one of the world's great gastronomic countries but it was the two years he spent in Japan coaching Grampus 8 that shaped his views on the importance of refuelling with the right ingredients.

"It was the best diet I ever had," the Arsenal manager reflected. "The whole way of life there is linked to health. Their diet is basically boiled vegetables, fish and rice. No fat, no sugar. You notice when you live there that there are no fat people. I think in England you eat too much sugar and meat and not enough vegetables."

Unsurprisingly, there has been an absence of players of a Mickey Quinn or John Robertson shape in Wenger's Arsenal teams. Come to think of it, the "Who ate all the pies?" chant has become somewhat absent from the song-sheet at Premier League grounds in recent years.

"Who ate all the sushi?" does not quite have the same pastry-encrusted ring to it.

It was perhaps another sign of changed times that John Hartson hung up his boots last week with the accompanying lament: "I've been fighting my weight for 12 years. I can't have a burger without putting on half a stone."

Junk food might be long gone from the regulation menu but it has not entirely been driven underground. As Cesc Fabregas confessed last autumn (presumably when his manager was turning a deaf ear): "Sometimes on a day off I go to the Krispy Kreme doughnut shop. When we play at home, I go there after the game and it's like a doughnut party. Everyone is eating doughnuts inside their cars." Ah, the joy of Cesc, Homer Simpson-style.

Not that the partaking of such treats has always been a post-match ritual. In his autobiography Full Time, Tony Cascarino tells the gut-wrenching story of how he arrived at Gillingham Station at 1.05pm one Saturday feeling a little peckish and under the impression that he would not even be on bench duty for the Gills come the 3pm start. After treating himself to a double Wimpy and chips and a knickerbocker glory, he turned up at Priestfield Stadium to find his name on the team sheet as a substitute.

At 3.15pm the future Republic of Ireland international was making his home debut. "I tried to convince myself that the congealed mass of beef and cream and fried potatoes in my gut would soon work its way down," Cascarino recalled, "but my stomach was turning like an overloaded spin dryer."

Heavyweight heroes: Extra-large shorts or super-size talent?

JAN MOLBY Liverpool's celebrated half Danish-half Scouse midfielder who made over 200 appearances for the Reds in the late Eighties and early Nineties bossed the midfield like he must have bossed the canteen queue.

FATTY FOULKES William Henry "Fatty" Foulkes was as a goalkeeper for Sheffield United and Chelsea and won a single international cap for England in 1897 against Wales. He was renowned for his chunky proportions and according to some sources weighed up to 24 stone by the end of his career.

MICKY QUINN Michael "Micky" Quinn, was as intimidating as strikers come because of his above average size. He played for Coventry and Newcastle among other English league clubs. His 2003 autobiography entitled Who Ate All the Pies says it all really.

ANDY REID Anyone who watched Sunderland play Wigan on Saturday will have a noticed a chunky little fella come on and set up the home side's second goal. Great pass, great belly on the former Spurs player.

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