ANDY CARROLL used to eat a full pub carvery before every home game during his time at Newcastle.
The striker came through the Magpies academy and made over 100 appearances for the club across two spells at St. James’ Park.
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However, he has now revealed he had a bizarre pre-match ritual whilst playing for his boyhood club.
Carroll would eat a roast dinner at a pub before each home fixture, complete with Yorkshire puddings and “loads of gravy”.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, he recalled: “I’ll tell you this… now you eat with the team but back then at Newcastle we would just meet at 1.30 for a 3pm kick off.
“I will never forget, I used to go to this little pub around the corner, The White Swan.
“It was like a Toby Carvery. Meat, Yorkshire puddings, loads of gravy. I would eat a full roast, full Newcastle tracksuit, and then I would just go to the game and play.
“This one time (team-mate) Kevin Nolan rang me up and said, ‘Will you pick me up cos my car’s not working… where are you?’
“I said I’m just having a Sunday roast and he went mental, screamed at me on the phone, ‘Are you joking?’ and I told him I’d done that forever.”
Unfortunately for Carroll, his pre-match routine would come to an end following his £35million move to Liverpool in 2011.
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“When I went to Liverpool, everything changed professionally,” he added. “We went to a hotel before the game, home and away, and had your pasta and your nice fruit.
“I’d been eating Yorkshire puddings and gravy. Now everyone’s telling you what to eat and when to eat. It was mental.
“Suited and booted, in a hotel the night before a game, eating right with the lads. On a Friday night in Newcastle I was out with my mam and dad or my friends.”
Carroll’s roast dinner diet did not seem to hinder his form in front of goal, though, scoring 34 times in 134 appearances across two spells with Newcastle.
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The former England striker also scored for the Three Lions at Euro 2012, one of two goals in his nine international caps.
Now aged 34, the forward moved to French side Amiens in the summer.
He has since scored once in six Ligue 2 matches this season, with his side currently 10th in the table.
