Amazingly, the England football team have their own chef.

The England chef Tim De’ath supervises all local chefs at the team hotel and starts cooking before meals as late as possible with gluten-free produce in preference. Pre-match meals are about three hours before the games and players have their own habits and quirks. For example, the footballer Peter Shilton insisted on rice pudding on match days and John Terry would always have a steak cut in half and pan fried, well done with no blood…

For Euro 2000, they had brought cans of baked beans. Even if they are well welcomed in France, they will take cereals, various tea and English mustard anyway.

Dubbed « Dr Death,» Tim De’ath put the players on a special diet. His goal is to combat the effects of altitude and try to give them the edge over their rivals.

Trained in London, the chef worked in restaurants, on the QE2 and catered for musicians in pop videos. He also worked on comedies and started cooking for West Ham, more than a decade ago. His Italian-based style was recommended to England team by footballer Gianfranco Zola.

Tim De’ath will ensure Roy Hodgson’s men never go hungry during the competition this month in France. Even if players are subjects to a strict moderation of taster portions of 60 grams.

The England squad gets five meals a day, at specific times. Breakfast is from 8am to 9.30am, lunch from 1pm and dinner at 7.30pm. After morning training, they can eat fruit and proteins snake and late afternoon nibble on a protein-based snack.

White meats are only eaten at lunch and red in the evening because they take longer to digest. Cakes, Snacks and tartlet are available to them.

«If players aren’t happy with something on the menu they will tell me,» he said. «You don’t buy a £40 million racehorse and feed it hays — you want the best quality food you can get,» explained Death.

Players enjoy joking with him. Once, he woke up sweating and hot on a plane. A prank by the squad who put him under 40 duvets — apparently making him think he had gone to heaven.

The England chef Tim De’ath’s Euro 2016 wish to teach Raheem Sterling how to make rice pudding. The footballer is a particular fan and he’s often asking if it’s on the menu that day or how to make it when sees the chef throughout the season. «I want to teach Sterling how to cook a rice pudding at some point. That is my goal,» Death says.