The Watford midfielder talks Christmas dinners and training regimes in a festive blog
Friday 26 December 2014 19:16, UK
Keith Andrews gives us an insight into a footballer's Christmas and reveals that some managers are more understanding than others...
It’s the time of the year where most people indulge in good food and drink but it’s a totally different proposition for footballers.
Paul Ince was one manager who put a lot of trust into his players by allowing them Christmas Day off and I know for a fact that the players loved him for it.
Games come thick and fast and footballers need to be sensible.
Players do have to make sacrifices but it’s a very small price to pay for what we do as our 'job'.
The atmosphere at games during this period is always exhilarating.
For foreign managers and players, it’s a bit of a culture shock as many European leagues have a winter break.
Jose Mourinho recently said how much he missed the festive fixtures while he was managing on foreign soil, so hopefully Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal catches the bug.
I have played for managers that have had us in training early on Christmas Eve and then not again until Christmas Day evening to give us time to spend with our families - this tends to happen if you then have to travel to a hotel for an away game the following day.
Some managers would encourage us to have our traditional Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve and I know a lot of players that do tend to celebrate on this day so they can let their hair down a little bit.
Paul Ince was one manager that put a lot of trust into his players by allowing them Christmas Day off and I know for a fact that the players loved him for it.
When a manager shows you that much compassion, there is that sense that you owe him - so inevitably players really do want to get that win as a thank you. Sam Allardyce was also a manager that gave players a lot of trust and I do think you reap the rewards of that as a manager.
On the flip side I have been at a club that never stayed in a hotel the night before home matches but felt it necessary to get all players and staff into a hotel on Christmas night and I can assure you that it went down like a lead balloon, creating quite a bit of resentment in the process.
Turkey is something that would often be served for pre-match meals before matches as a change from the usual chicken, so it’s something the nutritionists at the clubs would advocate as a great source of protein.
I love my potatoes, but I’ll tend to steer towards some mashed instead of roasted. I would load up on vegetables - as usual. In truth, a Christmas Day meal is a pretty healthy one.
Dessert is something you need to be wary of but there have been clubs that I’ve been at that do have healthy desserts the night before matches.
A lot of teams now have full time chefs that travel everywhere with them to assure the food served up is of the highest quality and they are very creative in how they can make healthy food taste very appetising. We have had everything from protein enriched cheesecakes to fruit crumbles so basically it’s as a case of everything in moderation and not steering to far from what you usually do.
