HAD he lasted the length of his contract, Nile Ranger would still be
running out for Newcastle today.
Back in 2010, the then England Under-19 striker earned himself a 5½-year deal,
having just starred in wins at Chelsea and Arsenal.
But now, after countless brushes with the law, he is on the football scrapheap
at 24, living with his mum in North London, desperate to be offered a route
back into the game.
Ranger, whose ex-England youth team-mates include current stars Danny Welbeck
and Danny Drinkwater, knows he only has himself to blame.
He said: “I feel like if I had behaved myself, I’d be up there with them.
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“Sometimes I watch Newcastle and know I’d definitely be playing right now,
especially with how things are going for them.
“There are times where I have seen them play and thought, ‘I can do better
than that’. But I can’t always hold on to that because it is done now.”
Indeed, Ranger has not kicked a ball since November 2014, when he went AWOL
from Blackpool for ten months — something he later explained was down to the
passing of two close friends. Once he did return, the Tangerines did not
want him there, though they would not let him quit either, and he needed the
PFA to help him finally get out of his contract last month.
Since then, Ranger has been on the hunt for a new club, spending time training
with Rotherham, who decided against offering him a deal.
But Millers manager Neil Warnock did hint the forward has reformed his bad-boy
ways, stating his only problem was fitness and inviting him to pre-season in
the summer.
Ranger admitted: “That was a nice gesture. He put it out there so people know
I’m not just some wrong ’un.
“Other managers have been phoning me back to say, ‘Because of your baggage it
is hard to get you in the door. Your ability speaks for itself but you are
just crazy’.
“I will say ‘I’m not crazy, I’ve grown up’. It’s been quite a while since I’ve
been in trouble. That’s not for me now.
“Obviously I’ve not helped myself in certain situations.
“But I’m not the devil, I’m a good person, ready to get my head down and
work.”
To prove it, Ranger says he has gone without booze for almost two years.
It was a decision he made after hitting the headlines while at Swindon in
April 2014, when he was caught on CCTV kicking down the door to his flat and
appearing to hit a female friend.
Ranger, who was found guilty of criminal damage and left the Robins,
explained: “It was my birthday time and I had a lot to drink. I don’t even
remember it.
“Somebody showed me the film and I just felt sick. I was like ‘Wow, is that
me? I’m a monster, that’s disgusting’. I was ashamed.”
That incident came just over a month after Ranger had been cleared of rape.
The case had hung over him for more than a year following his initial arrest
and led Newcastle to ditch him.
Ranger recalled: “That one really put a pause on my career because no clubs
wanted to touch me.
“It was a joke. That should never have gone to court.
“The jury were laughing at certain things the girl was saying. It was just a
shambles.
“It was a hard time but I’m very tough and strong-minded and it couldn’t break
me.”
The not guilty verdict was a huge relief for Ranger, who vowed never to return
behind bars following the 11 weeks he spent in a young offenders’
institution for involvement in a street robbery, aged 15.
Ranger blames subsequent scrapes, including being snapped posing with a BB
gun, on a lack of support.
He admitted: “At the time I was young, I was reckless. I had no guidance.
“I was around the wrong crowd. I was living in the fast lane, too quick.”
As well as cutting out alcohol, Ranger says he has “finished” with tattoos –
his 50-plus inkings include his surname on the side of his face and a smiley
face on the inside of his bottom lip.
He is now training in the gym every day and would love a short-term deal until
the end of the season to put himself back on the “map”.
Ranger added: “Even though I have my baggage and my past, I am established and
I am a good footballer. I am a natural-born talent.
“Everyone makes mistakes – I’ve just made more than others. But now I am ready
to settle down.
“Look at Joey Barton – he has reinvented himself very well. That is someone
showing you it can actually happen.
“I’ve got a nice aura about me. People might think ‘Oh he knows gangs’, but
it’s far from that.
“If I made it back into the Premier League it would be a great story – you
could write a book on it afterwards.”
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