Guido van de Kamp: I once drove 600 miles to sign for Raith Rovers

Van de Kamp, now 61 and working as facilities manager for his hometown club FC Den Bosch, was recently speaking to Raith TV at Stark’s Park having come over to watch the Kirkcaldy outfit’s 2-0 home derby win over Dunfermline Athletic – another one of his former clubs – on March 14.

The Dutch keeper, whose 164 games for rank him 105th in all-time Rovers appearances and in the top 10 of all goalies in the club’s history, said: "I was out of contract with Dunfermline and I went back home for my holidays. Jimmy phoned me and said: 'If you want to sign you have to come now from Holland'.

"So I stepped in my car and drove about 1000km to arrive here because I already lived in Aberdour.

"I signed the next day and it was fantastic.

"Every Friday before training we had a game and we had three teams.

"The winning team had to choose the worst player from the losing team.

"We did that every Friday and at the end of the season we had a day out and we had to bring some beers, it was absolutely brilliant.

"We also had to wear a yellow jersey that said: 'Donkey of the Week'. But I never wore it!”

Van de Kamp, who served Raith for four years before ending his senior playing career at Alloa Athletic, was then asked how he enjoyed his overall time in Kirkcaldy, including a memorable 3-0 win over Dunfermline which he played in.

He added: “It was absolutely brilliant and a pleasure to play for Raith Rovers.

"I enjoyed it very much here, that's the good thing about it. I still look out for them every week.

"It was brilliant before the game when people were sitting in the stand and already shouting your name.

"After the game when you won it was even better. I got a lot of support and it gave me a lot of confidence when I was playing there.

"The first year I think I played my best season under Jimmy Nicholl and Alex Smith.

"It was an absolutely brilliant team I was playing in but we just missed out on promotion against Dundee.

"I had such a good time over here and I played so well.

"It was one of the big games against Dunfermline. That was very special.

"We beat them 3-0 up here so I really enjoyed that.

"I'm very pleased to be back here. The people still recognise me and that's a good thing about it.

"As a goalie I had some bad things as well but I still get a good reception over here.”

Van de Kamp met up with his fellow ex-Raith goalkeeping stalwart David McGurn during his return trip to Kirkcaldy.

The pair discovered that they had a mutual acquaintance in former goalie Craig Coyle, a former understudy to Van de Kamp at Raith who was also a team-mate of McGurn’s at Greenock Morton.