Former Newcastle wonderkid Nile Ranger has opened up on his troubled career and insisted he still has a desire to return to the game.

Ranger, now 32, has been a free agent since leaving National League side Boreham Wood in the summer of 2022 after playing just four minutes for the club.

But when he broke into Newcastle’s first team at the age of 18 in 2009, he was one of the hottest striking prospects in English football as he played an important role in their Championship title triumph under Chris Hughton in 2009-10.

Unfortunately, Ranger’s career has been blighted by off-field troubles which has included serving two jail terms, a battle against a gambling addiction, while he has been released by numerous clubs due to disciplinary issues. 

And Ranger – who has also represented Swindon Town, Southend United, Blackpool, Barnsley, Sheffield Wednesday and Spalding United during his chaotic time in the game – admitted he has been through a lot and has plenty of regrets.

Nile Ranger has opened up on his troubled career and insisted he has plenty of regrets

Nile Ranger has opened up on his troubled career and insisted he has plenty of regrets 

Ranger broke into the Newcastle team as a teenager but has faced several off-field problems

Ranger broke into the Newcastle team as a teenager but has faced several off-field problems

He claimed if he had 'behaved and eaten better' he would be like Man City star Erling Haaland

He claimed if he had ‘behaved and eaten better’ he would be like Man City star Erling Haaland

‘I have players coming to me saying, “What happened? What’s wrong with you? With your talent, what are you doing?”‘, he told The Athletic. ‘I made my bed and now I have to lie in it. I feel frustrated. I know what I can do but it’s deeper than that because I’ve had so many chances.

‘I didn’t take in the advice. I should be minimum Championship right now. I shouldn’t be having problems but I didn’t listen. 

‘If I added nutrition to my game and behaviour, I’m Haaland. But I didn’t want to listen. I thought I knew it all. Every club I’ve had, even as an adult, my mum has had to come in — because they respect her — to see if it could work as a last throw of the dice.’

Ranger once counted the likes of Tim Krul, Kevin Nolan, Andy Carroll and Fabricio Coloccini among his team-mates in a career which spanned 26 Premier League appearances, with the striker earning £10,000-a-week while with Newcastle.

However, his list of misdemeanours does not make for good reading. Ranger’s charge sheet includes assault, being drunk and disorderly, street robbery, an FA fine for a homophobic tweet in 2012, criminal damage, conspiracy to defraud and commit money laundering, while he was also found not guilty in a rape trial in 2014.

Elsewhere, he has also struggled with a lack of discipline and saw the dream of a professional contract at Southampton ended when he stole a significant amount of kit from the club and was subsequently kicked out. 

Meanwhile, when he was at Newcastle, Ranger developed a gambling addiction that got out of hand, before interventions from chairman Mike Ashley and then-managing director Derek Llambias, along with his mother.

This included the club banning him from casinos in the city after Ranger had even borrowed money from team-mates. 

Ranger’s first brush with the law came when he was sentenced to 11 weeks in a Young Offenders Institute in 2007 after being convicted of participating in a street robbery in London. 

Ranger, now 32, has been a free agent since leaving Boreham Wood in the summer of 2022

Ranger, now 32, has been a free agent since leaving Boreham Wood in the summer of 2022

Ranger enjoyed a solid two years at Southend but was released due to disciplinary issues

Ranger enjoyed a solid two years at Southend but was released due to disciplinary issues

He admitted he has regrets about his behaviour but outlined a desire to return to the game

He admitted he has regrets about his behaviour but outlined a desire to return to the game

In 2017, he was then jailed for eight months – of which he served just 10 weeks – after being involved in an online banking fraud while playing for Blackpool, and the striker expressed his contrition when reflecting on his past behaviour.

Since being released by Southend in 2018 for disciplinary issues – where Ranger scored 10 goals in 49 appearances – he has played just once for Spalding United in the Northern Premier League Division One South East, 12 minutes in a second spell for Southend and that four-minute stint at Boreham Wood almost two years ago.

However, the 32-year-old – who became a father two years ago – was insistent he still has plenty to give on an off the pitch despite his chequered past.

He added: ‘People can learn from me. I played in every league — I’ve been at the highest level, I’ve been there, I can help the kids. It’s not the end of me. I’ve had a blast, it’s been eventful, but where I have regrets is it was never about my talent… it was my behaviour.’    

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Post source: Daily mail

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