He Actually Wanted to be a Pro Soccer Player
If it wasn’t for a rough injury, Gordon Ramsay might never have become a chef. In 2002, during an interview with The Guardian, he disclosed that his lifelong passion has always been soccer — or, as Europeans like to call it – football. It turns out that Ramsay was quite talented – so much so, that Glasgow’s Rangers signed him up.
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Recalling his early days on the team as “very stressful,” he remembers being “petrified most of the time.” But his entire life changed when he suffered a serious injury on the soccer field. He tore his ligaments and was consequently not invited back for another season, and he was understandably crushed. Soon after, he took a catering course. “I still love football, though, and I think cooking is like football… It’s not a job; it’s a passion.”