Gordon Ramsay claims he was Rangers 'steam train' derailed amid startling confession over shattered Ibrox dream

Superstar chef Gordon Ramsay admits he shunned the sport he loved after his Rangers love affair was cruelly ended by injury.

The 56-year-old turned out for his boyhood heroes before a serious knee issue ended his career stone dead in the early 1980s. Mystery has often surrounded Ramsay's exact standing during his time in Govan with the man himself insisting he was on the cusp of potential stardom, although has reportdly been shot down by a Rangers historian. And now the leading name in the culinary world has opened up over the excruciating torment he felt as his dream of being an Ibrox hero like contemporary Ally McCoist came to a shuddering halt.

Speaking on the High Performance podcast, Ramsay said: "I was fit as a fiddle at 6ft 2, naturally left-footed, very few individuals got past me. I was a steam train, I remember playing a testimonial for the first team, I got my first call up, I remember Coisty had just broken into the first team, he was playing for Scotland U21s, I was 18 at the time.

"All of a sudden, you are in this amazing team, you are on the sheet, your name is there, number three on the back of the shirt. I went in for this 50/50 tackle and it was crunch. I laid there in such pain, I tore my cruciate ligament and smashed my cartilage. Then we didn't have private healthcare, you didn't get whisked off to Germany for the latest surgeon, you were on the rubbish heap, the scrap heap. Because there were four, five guys behind me instantly to take my place."

And he confesses he purposely swerved football as he moved to England and started his first steps towards becoming one of the most celebrated chefs in history. Ramsay admits the Rangers agony he endured was a living nightmare.

He added: "Oh s***, I