A former Premier League striker who was jailed twice has been given the chance to revive his career in the seventh tier of English football. Nile Ranger was once regarded as an exciting prospect but his talent was overshadowed by his lifestyle off the pitch.
Ranger began his professional career at Newcastle and was widely tipped as a star of the future after impressing in the top flight. However, he tumbled down the leagues after stints in jail and was left without employment last year when he was released by Boreham Wood.
The 33-year-old has now been handed the opportunity to resurrect his career at Kettering Town, who play in the Southern League Premier Division Central. He recently made his first appearance for his new club, featuring against St Ives Town in the seventh tier.
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Kettering manager Richard Lavery said after the game: "It was his first game, he hadn't met the lads. He's come in out of the cold, he's not played for a while.
"You could see in the first half he was rusty. In the second half, he turned up. There's a lot more to come from him. He hasn't played at those levels for nothing, has he?"
Ranger's playing career has been blighted by his colourful past away from the pitch. When he was a teenager, he served 11 weeks in a young offenders' institute for his part in an armed robbery during his time in the Southampton academy.
He caused outrage while at Newcastle after posing with a gun on social media and left the club by mutual consent two years later. Ranger found success in the lower leagues at Southend United but had his contract terminated in 2018 because of 'recurring disciplinary issues'.
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Before leaving the Shrimpers, he was sentenced to eight months in prison after pleading guilty to online banking fraud. He was released after 10 weeks and returned to Southend, but was unable to play in midweek games due to a 7pm curfew.
In an interview with The Athletic last year, Ranger said he was committed to leaving his past firmly behind him after becoming a father and learning from his mistakes.
"I should be minimum Championship right now," he said. "I shouldn’t be having problems but I didn’t listen. If I added nutrition to my game and behaviour, I'm [Erling] 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. She is my life coach. She’s probably disappointed deep down that I didn’t really go higher."
