Huge celebs who were almost footballers – Gordon Ramsay, Rod Stewart to Doctor Who star

It has been over 54 years since England’s iconic World Cup winning moment made huge stars of players including Sir Bobby Moore.

But did you know in the years to follow, that huge celebrities including Gordon Ramsay and Rod Stewart could have been some of the rising stars in football history too?

Long before they were a celebrity chef and one of the world’s biggest rockstars, both Gordon and Rod had trials with football teams as teenagers – with Gordon playing a few non-league matches too.

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However, it was not meant to be and the celebrities embarked on different career paths all together.

They’re not the only ones either, and here, Daily Star takes a look at the celebrities who could have been professional footballers.

Gordon Ramsay

He may be one of the most famous celebrity chefs in the world, but long before he walked into Hells Kitchen, Gordon was lacing up his football boots for a sporting career.

A talented Gordon loved Rangers and was invited for a trial with the team in 1984, with the chef saying in his autobiography that he played a couple of non-league games with the club.

Speaking of playing alongside Gordon back in the day, Derek Ferguson told BBC Sportsound that despite being known for his expletive filled rants on TV, Gordon was very quiet in the dressing room.

He said: “See when the new boys came in to Ibrox, I was asked to look after them. He was so quiet, it was so hard to get anything out of him.”

However, Gordon suffered a serious knee injury in 1985 – putting an end to his footballing career.

Despite this the celebrity chef has still put his footballing skills to use, appearing in a number of matches for the charity event Soccer Aid.

Rod Stewart

Rod Stewart’s dad played in a local football team and had also been a manager, with a young Rod looking set to follow in his footsteps.

He became captain of his school’s football team and also played for Middlesex Schoolboys team too, as well as being put forward for trials with Brentford F.C in 1960.

However, it was not meant to be, with Rod revealing in his 2012 autobiography that he was never called back following his trail for the club.

Despite this, he has still taken part in a few football matches, including playing for LA Exiles in a senior football league based in California.

In an interview with The Scottish Sun, Rod also explained that playing football saved him after drinking and taking drugs in his career, saying: “Football sort of saved me a little bit.”

“Up until seven years ago I was still playing football Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights.

“Especially Sunday mornings, I couldn’t do drugs and drink too much, because it would have ruined my game.”

He added: “But football has helped me so much and I miss it so much, not playing.”

David Essex

Music icon David Essex has delighted generations of fans with his music and theatre performances – but he could have played for one of the country’s biggest clubs.

As a teenager, he played for West Ham Juniors, telling Great British Life: “I loved my football and I was not bad at it.

“That’s why I played for West Ham juniors when I was still at school. I had this great dream that one day I would be a professional footballer and play in the Hammers’ first team, maybe even play for England.

“Yes, that was my dream, along with a few million other boys of course.”

However, a trip to the Flamingo Club in Soho, London sparked his love of music – leading to a career that would see David top the charts in multiple countries around the world.

David did pay a special nod to his West Ham past though, when his character Jim McClaine reads a newspaper article in the 1974 film Stardust.

The paper shows that West Ham have won their match, and with Jim McClaine’s band landing a number one record in the film too, the character says “I’ve done the double,” in a witty reference to his David’s real life love for the team.

Matt Smith

Future Doctor Who star and The Crown actor Matt Smith might not have made it to our TV screens at all, after showing his flair for football from a young age.

Matt was reportedly on the books at a number of clubs including Northampton, Nottingham Forest and Leicester as a youngster, before a back injury put an end to his footballing career at the age of 16 years old.

The actor revealed to Kirsty Young on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs that he was devestated that his football career came to an end, saying: “It was a tough time because I just felt unfulfilled, to be honest, I felt like I was so certain that that is what I was going to do.

“It was very difficult for me to tell people that I had been released because the vain part of me was like, I am that and I am the footballer, you know, and at school I was the footballer and suddenly I wasn’t that.

He added: “Fortuitously there was a drama teacher, Terry Hardingham, who said, ‘you were never meant to be a footballer, I always thought you were really great at acting.”

However, Doctor Who fans still got to see the star put his football skills to use in an episode of the popular sci-fi drama, where he played football with on-screen room mate James Cordon.

Sean Connery

Sean Connery is undoutedly one of the greatest actors of a generation, but long before he became Bond, James Bond, he could have risen to footballing stardom.

The actor also had a trial with East Fife, before reportedly being offered a contract with Manchester United by manager at the time Matt Busby.

However, instead of pursuing footballing fame with the club, he decided to opt for a career in acting – and the rest as they say is history.

Speaking of his love of football, the late, great Sean Connery previously said at the Edinburgh Book Festival: “Football was a great passion of mine while I was growing up.

“My father introduced me to Celtic and we played football in what we called the back green which was, in fact, made of concrete.

“I have maintained my love of football. I went away from it when I was really busy on films and then I really got back into it when I was involved in Celtic and I remember helping with the Jock Stein benefit game.”

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk