Ronald Waterreus faked on-field injury prior to acrimonious Rangers exit

Former Rangers goalkeeper Ronald Waterreus. Picture: Neil Hanna

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And the Dutch keeper, who won the 2005 SPL title, said he faked an on-field injury to test the Ibrox public’s reaction to him.

Gers signed the Holland international from Manchester City, and he made 49 senior appearances.

However the seven-cap international fell out of favour when appearing to criticise his teammates and chairman David Murray in a Dutch magazine interview.

He returned home to join AZ Alkmaar in 2006 after failing to agree a new deal.

Waterreus, 47, recalled: “Rangers sent me a contract offer by fax, but they had spelled my name wrong.

“So I angrily sent them a fax in reply, telling them: ‘If you can’t even spell my name properly ...’

“They dutifully sent me another fax, which this time had my name spelt correctly.

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“However, they still misspelt the name of my agent Kees Ploegsma on it.

“So I said: ‘I’m not talking with you any more!’

“I knew that I was going to leave Rangers. I had given an interview back home that was a bit spiky, and it was translated into English.

“We then played at home to Motherwell, and I was roundly booed by my own fans. That is no fun when there are 48,000 of them!

“A few weeks later we were at home to Hearts. I played very well, and thought I would make a statement for once.

“So, two minutes from time, I pretended to have torn a hamstring.

“Of course that was not the case at all, but I said: ‘I’ve got to come off.’

“So I walked off the pitch, and received a standing ovation. I reached the touchline, and the manager Alex McLeish asked me: ‘What’s the matter?’

“I replied: ‘Nothing - I just wanted to see if the fans were still going to boo me.”