On tour: Mike Donnelly

As the Reds prepare to embark on the European leg of pre-season, tour sponsors DHL caught up with chef Mike Donnelly to find out about his role at Manchester United.

You can access more exclusive news, interviews, videos and image galleries from Tour 2012 on DHL's Tour 2012 microsite.

What are your main responsibilities on tour?
My responsibility on the tour is making sure the food is the right temperature in hotels, is kept at the right temperature, and that the food doesn’t stray from our dietary requirements.

Why is your role important to the success of the team when they're travelling?
If the lads know who’s cooking the food, and it’s the food that they’re used to, it keeps them happy psychologically. If they’ve got any moans or groans they can go through me, and I will then relay them to the hotel.

What sort of preparation is involved?
We send the menus over to the hotels prior to our departure. If there’s something they can’t get hold of, they can let us know and we’ll make sure we take it with us. Other than that, I just take my knives and use the hotel’s equipment.

What are the player’s dietary requirements? What do you serve them on the DHL tour?
We always use lean meats and we make sure there’s a variety of the stuff they can eat. The lads are always sensible when they’re on tour as well. They know exactly what they can and can’t eat so that helps me as well.

How does the diet differ on tour from what you give the players on a day-to-day basis during the season?
Well, that’s the good thing about me going with them – it doesn’t differ that much. As much as we can, we try and keep it the same as what they