“My upbringing was tough,” says Jermaine Jenas, on the phone from the England football team’s headquarters at St George’s Park, in Staffordshire. “I was from a single-parent home, my mum worked multiple jobs. 

“Whenever my mum could, she’d make sure there was a healthy meal on the table, but from a financial point of view it was difficult. We didn’t have luxuries around. Cereals were my way of snacking. I’d just eat loads of cereal all the time. It was a necessity.”

The 40-year-old has always been adaptable. As a footballer, he was a dynamic box-to-box midfielder, the kind of player who could win the ball back in his own penalty area, find an incisive pass and then score at the other end. When the injuries that had plagued him across his time at Nottingham Forest, Newcastle United, Spurs and Aston Villa curtailed his playing career early, he moved smoothly into media work. Other former pros can be awkward or hesitant on camera. Jenas was a natural, one of only a handful of former players – Gary Lineker is the shining example of this – with the chops to do in-game commentary, studio punditry and host.

After nearly a decade in the media, Jenas has even made the transition from sports into regular broadcasting, hosting The One Show and presenting documentaries on youth crime. Injuries kept him from achieving all he might have as a player; nobody could say the same of his second act in the media.

To his bulging dossier of roles he can now add nutrition campaigner. M&S has recruited him to help front its new campaign. Its premise is that while footballers have never been fitter, the rest of the population is getting fatter. By sharing the diets of players from the British national sides, M&S hopes to inspire the rest of us to eat better, especially children, among whom the obesity problem is especially bad.

Jenas started out as a player around the time of a fundamental shift in how footballers ate and drank, exemplified by Arsène Wenger’s revolution at Arsenal, which saw lager and chips give way to chicken breast and salad. “I was definitely in the crossover period where some of the lads would go and play a game and have a couple of pints as a recovery,” he laughs. “[The younger players] were showing the way more than the older generation.”

His first club was Nottingham Forest, which he says was progressive when it came to nutrition. 

“When I was 15, around the time of my first YTS (Youth Training Scheme) contract, we had a nutritionist come in on a regular basis,” he says. “We learnt why fast food is bad for you, and doesn’t help you recover, and how to understand the kinds of foods you need before a game. Pasta, rice, potatoes: high carbohydrate-based foods that are longer-lasting. Then post-match you need a lot more protein to make sure your muscles get the recovery they need. My nutritional education started when I was 15 and carried on into life, even into retirement.” Nutrition for athletes has advanced even further since he was a player, with diets now tailored to individual needs.

Jenas has three daughters and a young son. He recognises the challenges facing parents when it comes to prising their children away from screens and into eating healthily. “Battling with my children and iPads is always difficult,” he says. “I think back to when I was younger and the [screen] options were very limited, so it was ‘get out of the house and make up a game and play and run around’. That’s what we used to do. A lot of foods are very sugary these days, as well, and the cost of things means it has become harder and harder for parents to cook fresh meals.”  

Footballers have a special responsibility, he adds. “When I was younger, John Barnes was my hero. If someone had said to me ‘John Barnes eats this before a game’, I’d have been all over it. I’d have thought ‘that’s why he’s so good, I’ll do that as well’. I think by M&S teaming up with the UK national teams – Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Wales – it does exactly that. It allows youngsters to look at Lucy Bronze or Harry Kane and think ‘I want to live my life like them’. You don’t get a bigger inspiration. You won’t listen to your parents, but you’ll listen to the superstars you worship.”

Jenas has long been tipped as a possible successor to Gary Lineker to host Match of the Day. Lineker has said he sees Jenas as “drifting more towards [his] role”. I wonder how Lineker’s crisp adverts sit in Jenas’s footballers-as-food-influencers world? For once, his Teflon facade cracks slightly.

“You’ll have to ask Gary,” he says briskly. “If it suits him, it suits him. It’s got nothing to do with me and the campaign I’m pushing. If you’ve got a question for Gary, just ring him.” Would Jenas advertise crisps? “I don’t advertise crisps,” he says, in a tone that suggests he would rather not talk about crisps anymore.

His composure recovers in time to talk about McDonald’s, which continues to sponsor the World Cup, and whose red and yellow billboards provided a backdrop to the Lionesses’ recent run to the final of the Women’s World Cup.

“Particularly when we’re talking about the women’s game, one of the biggest conversations is about money,” he says. “There are plenty of brands you wouldn’t class as healthy that sponsor World Cups – Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, whoever they may be – but they bring a financial aspect that’s hugely needed, particularly in the women’s game. In a perfect world, we wouldn’t have any sponsors that are negative. 

“But whether it’s Fifa, or the Premier League, or the England national team, you have to look at the whole product and see what you can do to make sure it benefits everybody and do the best you can with it. It’s not always going to be perfect, but you have to do what you can with it.” Adaptable as ever.

In turning his attention to children and food, Jenas is following the recent example set by Marcus Rashford, whose activism during the pandemic helped pressurise the Government into a series of about-turns on school meals. 

“[Rashford’s campaign] was hugely important,” Jenas says. “One of the things that annoyed me was the unnecessary pressure footballers came under. There was no cry from the Government about Formula One drivers or tennis players or anyone like that. They attacked footballers and their wages. The fact Marcus Rashford was able to have that impact was brilliant.”

As for Jenas, an ever-expanding media profile must be balanced with the needs of his family. “It’s a weird one,” he says. “I’ve been really fortunate to do numerous FA Cup finals and the last World Cup finals – to do that in front of 25 million viewers was a real honour. I want to do that for as long as possible. 

“But I’ve also got a young family who are going into exam stages and a baby boy who loves his football. I’ve got to be present for them, too. It’s hard to sit here and say ‘this is the future’. I’ve got an idea, but it’s about getting there.”

Does he allow himself any little treats to keep his energy up on Match of the Day? “Mainly fruit,” he says. “I’ll always have another meal when I get home, and I like to sit down and have a bite with the missus.” No crisps, then.