The 52-year-old retired Manchester United striker is in awe of the physiques of current professionals because while his generation were “fit and strong”, they were nowhere near as muscular as their current counterparts.

He told Men’s Health magazine: “Since my time, the game has changed a hell of a lot.

“If you look at the majority of footballers now, they’re more like middleweight boxers.

“The physiques are absolutely unbelievable.

“If you look at my generation, or the generation before, everyone was fit and strong but they didn’t look like middleweight boxers. We hardly did any gym work.”

Andy’s son Devante Cole agrees the game has changed to emphasise fitness and recovery.

The West Bromwich Albion striker said: “When I was growing up, there were little changes coming into football, like your protein shakes and your recovery, but I feel like now it’s that stage where there’s as much emphasis on fitness, recovery and making sure you’re as good off the field as you are on the field.

“I’ve got into it massively in the past few years.”