David James says he puts boiling water on his cereal instead of milk

David James has explained why he uses boiling water on his cereal instead of milk – and his decision has sparked plenty of discussion on social media.

The 52-year-old former Liverpool and Manchester City goalkeeper shocked listeners on this week's BBC Radio 5 Live segment In My Opinion when he opened up on his unusual eating habits at the breakfast table.

James, who made 53 appearances for England, says he often uses boiled water on his cereal because, in his own words, it's more environmentally friendly.

Speaking on the show, he said: "Let's look at it this way, [If you] use milk, milk from cows, or soya milk - as some people like to use. We're talking about environmental impact here, cows produce a lot of methane."

The former Portsmouth shot-stopper added: "Methane is a greenhouse gas. Soya milk obviously leads to deforestation. Boiling water is kind of just boiling water isn't it, I mean it's good for the environment."

BBC presenters Rick Edwards and Rachel Burden decided to attempt the boiled water challenge live on air.

"Do you know what David... it's fine," Edwards said. "It's not awful but I would prefer it with milk. I'll have one more mouthful..."

Here's how social media reacted to the controversial breakfast meal.

One said: "This isn’t even cereal anymore. He’s drinking soup with croutons," while another commented: "Milk is so good for you providing important calcium, iodine, protein, minerals and vitamins!"

A third wrote: "Off the back of this, I've been told about the former City player that used to put tea on his cereal and, honestly, I'm just absolutely flabbergasted."

A fourth added: "I don’t like milk either, but I simply wouldn’t eat cereal if it was to pour water on it."

On the subject of cereal, James' former international teammate Gary Neville used to take a bowl of cereal to bed with him when he was playing for Manchester United.

That's according to former teammate Roy Keane, who opened up on Neville's bizarre bedroom habits whilst he was playing during a segment on Monday Night Football.

"Gary was a brilliant player," the former United captain said on MNF. "He was a great character in the sense that, when he came into the group, into the first-team squad, I think Gary used to go to bed at half-past eight every evening and he'd be going to bed with his bowl of cereal and we'd be criticising him but he was a really top professional player.

"We all embraced Gary. You need different characters in the dressing room, but Gary fell into the group no problem. We all liked him, we all had time for him - obviously that's changed over the years..."

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