A man cycles past the YAO Restaurant & Bar owned by China's former NBA star Yao Ming on September 22, 2015 in Houston. Photo: AFP

"He works in there on match days, son." It's a statement you often hear outside Lou Macari's Fish and Chips in the shadow of Old Trafford, and it remains as untrue today as it was when Macari was delighting Manchester United fans with chips on the pitch in the late 1970s.

The Scottish striker might have seemed like the first - at least in the eyes of those who consumed their football and pre-match meals at Old Trafford - but Manchester City footballers Colin Bell and Colin Waldron opened the Bell Waldron in Manchester's Whitefield district back in the 1960s. Hopefully they had more imagination on the pitch than they did when naming the restaurant.

It turns out many sports stars get out of the fire and into the frying pan once their careers are over.

It's a phenomenon that has much longer standing in the US, where, in true American humility, sports stars have been putting their names to restaurants for years. Michael Jordan's Steak House, Wayne Gretzky's and Brett Favre's Steak House.

YAO Restaurant & Bar, named after the current CBA head and former NBA favorite Yao Ming, serves Chinese rather than steak but the list goes on and cuts across the world of sports like Bo Jackson or a chef with a paring knife. There's even an Arnold Palmer's (where you can fittingly order an Arnold Palmer) with both restaurant and refreshing ice tea beverage named after the great golfer.

True f-words

In Europe, things are somewhat less developed but nowadays, the only true ­f-words in the UK might well be football and food. Gordon Ramsay - the celebrity chef from The F Word - embodies that and will continue to do so as long as he maintains that he used to play for Glasgow Rangers.

Former England fullback Paul Konchesky now does pie and mash, for example, and Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has invested in a gastropub.

But it's not all greasy spoons and burgers in the stadium forecourt. Lee Dixon teamed up with Heston Blumenthal to invest in the chef's Riverside Brasserie in Bray.

Danny Mills surprised the world when he made the final of reality television favorite Celebrity Masterchef in 2012. He surprised them a little less when he was part of an investment firm that bought the West Cornwall Pasty Company out of administration, saving hundreds of jobs across the country.

Like Macari before them Manchester United alumni are leading the way. Rio Ferdinand part owns Manchester city center footballer hangout Rosso. Phil Neville set up health food emporium Win Naturally with wife Julie. His brother Gary set up GG Hospitality with Ryan Giggs, which owns Cafe Football, a place where Guardian food critic Jay Rayner called the sausage roll "a glorious thing that I want to adopt as my third child."

The Cafe Football menu at Old Trafford's Hotel Football features such other items as The Nicky Butty (a club sandwich playing on the similarity between former teammate Nicky Butt's surname and the local slang for a sandwich) and the Mara Doner pizza, of which El Diego himself would surely approve. There is also "The Special One" - a burger with Portuguese spices - that has lasted longer in Manchester than Jose Mourinho.

The former teammates were also behind the Rabbit In The Moon, located next to the National Football Museum in the city center, while, Manchester United's record assist maker Giggs also set up another restaurant, George's, with childhood friends.

Classier affair

Even when the Brits hit the high notes, as always, it's often been a classier affair on the continent. When at AC Milan, Clarence Seedorf owned global Japanese restaurant chain Finger's Garden while Luis Figo has dabbled with restaurants in Barcelona and his native Portugal. Elsewhere, Croatian midfield great Zvonimir Boban owns Restaurant Boban in the center of Zagreb, while Andres Iniesta, Andrea Pirlo, David Ginola and Luis Figo (again) all own wineries.

Iniesta's family vineyard was said to be a key reason why he signed for Japanese J.League side Vissel Kobe after leaving Barcelona, with the opportunity to export the family's wine to the country too good to turn down.

His former teammate at Camp Nou, Lionel Messi, opened "El Bellavista del Jardin del Norte" in Barcelona along with his siblings.

Ever one to keep things simple, Gennaro Gattuso opened a fish shop in 2010 just before his international retirement. He is not the only former Glasgow Rangers footballer to dabble in the world of food.

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay was on the books of the Glasgow giants, although unlike Gattuso he never got a game. To refer to Ramsay as a former footballer is much like referring to Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster as a former chef. While the statements are true there is little doubt as to which career they will be remembered for.

You can't be good at everything. Anderlecht player-manager and former Manchester City stalwart Vincent Kompany had to close the pair of sports bars he opened for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in his native Belgium as demand was not as expected. His former boss has done a little better, though.

Pep Guardiola is one of the investors behind Manchester's Tast Catala, along with Blues Chairman Ferran Soriano and director of football Txiki Begiristain in 2018. Their rival for those seeking Spanish food in the city is Manchester United's Juan Mata, who opened Tapeo and Wine with his father Juan Mata Sr in 2017.  

Neither restaurant will ever have the cult appeal of another restaurant with a Manchester City connection. Brazilian defender Glauber Berti became a cult hero at the club for being named 20 times to the bench and never coming off it in his sole season at the club, until the last game of the campaign when Mark Hughes gave him six minutes. He reportedly started a restaurant, Il Berti's, before shuttering it to concentrate on becoming an agent.

On and off the pitch, it seems the English game often lags behind but it's come a long way since chips in the food stakes and that's something to chew over.