Before every Newcastle home game, Andy Carroll devoured a whole pub carvery with gravy.

Before every Newcastle home game, Andy Carroll devoured a whole pub carvery with gravy.

Andy Carroll revealed his wonderful pre-match meal at Newcastle, which fueled his £35 million move to Liverpool but may not have prepared him for becoming a top athlete.

When Andy Carroll was a Newcastle United player, he would eat a complete roast dinner before every home game.

The Gateshead-born striker is a loyal Geordie with a soft one for Newcastle, so much so that he admits to eating pub food before every home game at St James’ Park.

Carroll was a deadly striker in the Premier League during his time at Newcastle, with a toughness that could equal any defender in the league. And it turns out that he fed the fire every other weekend with a pub dinner.

Carroll disclosed his mental pre-match lunch to the Daily Mail, which would never be heard of in the Premier League today, saying: “I’ll tell you this… You now eat with the team, whereas at Newcastle, we would just assemble at 1.30 for a 3pm kick off. I’ll never forget going to The White Swan, a small tavern around the corner.

“It reminded me of a Toby Carvery. Meat, Yorkshire puddings, and copious amounts of gravy. I’d have a full roast, put on my Newcastle tracksuit, and then go to the game and play.

“One time, (teammate) Kevin Nolan called and said, ‘Will you pick me up because my car isn’t working?’ “Where have you gone?” I told him I was just having a Sunday roast, and he went insane, yelling at me on the phone, “Are you joking?” I told him I’d done it for years.

Between 2006 and 2011, the Geordie scored 31 goals in 80 Championship and Premier League games for the Toon before Liverpool rushed in on January Deadline Day in 2011 to sign him for £35 million.

But the change in landscape was not only untimely for Carroll, who had just purchased his ‘dream house’ in the north-east, but the level of nutrition, which today would not be glanced at twice, also caught him off guard.

“When I went to Liverpool, everything changed professionally,” Carroll concluded. We went to a hotel before the game, both at home and away, and ate your spaghetti and fresh fruit. I’d been chowing down on Yorkshire puddings and sauce.

“Now everyone tells you what and when to eat. It was insane. Suited and booted, I was in a hotel the night before a game, eating right alongside the lads. On a Friday night in Newcastle, I went out with my mother and father or with my friends.”

After suffering at Liverpool, Carroll joined West Ham when he left the club in 2013, before embarking on a journeyman’s twilight, which presently sees him play for French second-tier side Amiens.