So Did Gordon Ramsay Ever Play For Rangers?

The News of the World said Ramsay never actually signed for the Glasgow club and questioned whether he had ever played in the first team.

Chef Gordon Ramsay has admitted there may have been "inaccuracies" in accounts of his soccer-playing past after a weekend newspaper report said he had lied about appearing for Scottish team Rangers.

The News of the World said Ramsay, 42, never actually signed for the Glasgow club and questioned whether he had ever played in the first team.

The article quoted Ramsay -- one of the world's most famous chefs who runs a string of acclaimed restaurants and appears on reality television cooking shows -- as telling a radio show in 2002 that he played three first-team games.

His career was cut short by injury, he added.

Ramsay put any "inaccuracies" in his recollection down to the passage of time. "Gordon has always downplayed his footballing past and been clear about the fact that he never made it to be a professional," his company said in a statement on Monday.

"As detailed in Gordon's autobiography, 'Humble Pie', Gordon was a promising schoolboy who was monitored by Rangers over a three-year period during his school holidays when he attended their Youth Policy.

"During this time, he played a couple of non-league matches as a trialist. A knee injury put paid to any further hopes of being signed by Rangers.

"Any inaccuracies regarding the details of this period can be explained by the fact that all this occurred nearly 25 years ago."

Rangers was not immediately available for comment.