The joy Of Cesc

By the time he joined Arsenal, training had been removed to London Colney with its 10 immaculate pitches. So much attention to so many details inspired the creation of London Colney: the colours on the walls are muted, the floors heated and natural light spills in through glass ceilings. Apprentices are no longer expected to clean boots and sweep floors. These days the sweeping is done by contract cleaners.

Lunch in the canteen in George's day featured steak and kidney pudding, apple pie and custard. 'It was completely different from nowadays. When we were kids we used to have a steak for the pre-match meal. I used to a have a bit of steak and toast. Later, we went on to fruit and cornflakes and poached eggs. Then after that, fish came in, didn't it?

'After training on a Friday, the team would go and sit up in the Wimpy Bar and have a burger in there. We didn't see why not. It's all changed a hell of a lot. For a start we'd mix with the supporters more in our day. I would go down the pub after games. People would say, "Oh, you were crap today", or "You played well". They'd tell you how it was because they were your friends and friends don't lie. All my friends were supporters.'

'My diet?' asked Fabregas. 'I eat a lot of pasta with tomato sauce. And then fish. The best is when we go to the Four Seasons Hotel in Canary Wharf before games and they give us potatoes, fish, chicken, pasta, eggs. I love it. But I have to admit that sometimes when I have a day off I like to go to the Krispy Kreme doughnut shop. When we play on a Saturday at home, after the game I go there and it's like a party. A doughnuts party. Because you can see all the cars parked there and everyone eating their doughnuts inside their cars. Ay, ay, ay. It's like a discotheque. I like the boxes with six to 12 different toppings!

'I don't think Arsene Wenger would tell me I was doing wrong. No, because I know when I can eat things that are not best for my body and when I have to eat properly. I have smoked, like, one cigarette in my life. No, not one whole cigarette. I once had one puff. It was the day of my Confirmation in Spain. There is a tradition in my family that as soon as you get confirmed you can have one puff. But I didn't like it. I didn't take the smoke in, I blew it out instead.'

They are two different players, inspiring two different sets of headlines.

'By George!' We saw that one a few times. 'The Joy Of Cesc!' That was the glorious phrase when the Spanish teenager galvanised Arsenal to a 2-0 triumph over Juventus on their 2006 run to the Champions League Final. Everything — even the headline writers — had become more sophisticated by the 21st Century.

'It amused me when Jose Antonio Reyes said he was having a hard time learning English at Arsenal — that's because nobody speaks it,' joked George. 'But I don't care where our players come from now, as long as they're good. It's a global game, isn't it?

'Languages? When you play football, it's a universal language. Good luck to the modern player — and their earnings. When we won The Double in 1971, we were on £150- £200 a week, with bonuses on top.'

Life on the modern Arsenal team bus is highly technological. The players sit wearing their iPods, their all-singing mobiles in hand. You might wonder what Charlie George and the lads took with them on the long haul to places like Newcastle and Manchester, stopping off at service stations for chips.

Charlie thought about it. 'Twenty fags and a packet of cards, probably,' he said.