There’s a time and place for a full English breakfast. Usually on a Sunday morning in front of the TV with a sore head, rather than at Finch Farm as preparation for training.
Speaking to 24Sata, Nikola Vlasic has been asked about his days at Everton and their training complex, and told the Croatian newspaper: “In the morning we have to be at the club at 8.30am, we all have breakfast together, then there is a short pause, then a meeting, then pause, training, lunch… We are at the club until 2.30pm and after that we are free.
“The story is exclusively about football, and everything else is a private thing. No one asks you what you are doing, where you were, when you went to sleep, what you ate… You come, do yours, and that’s it.”
Whilst that sounds perhaps a little too much on the free and easy side, Vlasic’s comments about the food available add to concerns that perhaps things have got a little casual at Everton’s training complex: “The choice is really rich, you can even eat a classic English breakfast with eggs, sausages, beans and ketchup. I’m avoiding it as it’s large portions, I don’t know how to eat it and run before training. I keep with the proven, what I’m used to eating and at home, and only fish is missing. There is also fish here, but it’s not as good as ours.”
It’s hard to believe that Ronald Koeman would have been so laid back about food at Everton, and that the club, under the Dutchman’s management, didn’t take a big interest in how players live, and eat, away from the training centre, but Vlasic is hardly going to have imagined it.
On Koeman getting fired this week, the Croatian striker explained: “The results are worse than expected. I’m sorry that the coach was fired because he brought me to the club and we had a very good relationship, but this is how it goes in professional football.”
Maybe one of the first things Everton’s next manager should do is withdraw the availability of a full English breakfast before training.
