The coaching staff at Newcastle are keen to keep young Nile Ranger’s feet on the ground this season.
Nile Ranger – feet on the ground
We are hoping that Chris Hughton will give Ranger a start against Sheffield United on Monday night.
Chris addressed talk that several big clubs are scouting 18 year-old Ranger:
“It’s normal that people talk about players being linked with clubs on the football circuit.” “I know of no official approach from anybody about Nile so far.” “Nile’s a young lad who is learning all of the time and his future is here.”
“During his time with the first team this season he has been making good contributions.” “But he is still very young. He is making progress and it’s very much a case of learning his trade.”
“Last season he did ever so well in the reserves and subsequently ended up with the first-team group.” “He’s worked his way up to the first team and he’s here on merit.”
Thew word is that Manchester City are one of the clubs interested in Niole, but there’s absolutely no way Newcastle should even consider selling this terrific London lad.
And indeed since he was siogned from Southampton in August, 2008 not only has he put his life in order, but his career has taken off – so he is already indebted to the Newcastle club.
And when Ranger came on at St. James’ Park on Saturday, replacing the experienced Marlon Harewood, he got a tremendous reception from the Geordie fans, and he ignited the Newcastle side with his strong running and enthusiasm
Hughton continued:
“There will always be ups and downs once you get here.” “And there will be times when any player’s form is not so good.”
“He’s (Nile) had a consistent run of games and, apart from a bout of illness, he’s been injury-free this season.”
“He’ll get better as he gets more experienced and it’s good for him that he can be part of the squad.”
Nile is already a huge favorite with the Newcastle fans, but he also loves it on Tyneside, so we don’t think he’ll be too keen to move to clubs like Manchester City, where he will find it hard to get a first team game for a good while.
In fact, we half expect Nile to be given the famous Newcastle number 9 shirt within a year or two, he’s that good.
And of course that shirt has been worn by Newcastle legends such as Hughie Gallagher, Jackie Milburn, Malcolm MacDonald and Alan Shearer, to name but four.
No, we’ll keep the youngsters we have – thank you very much – and the plan is to turn them into first team players as they mature as footballers. It’s one of the few good things (the only one?) that Mike Ashley has done at Newcastle.
We hope to see lads like Carroll, Ranger, Kadar and Vuckic, already at the club, become first team regulars fairly soon.
And we also expect more great youngsters to come to Newcastle in January. 😀
Comments welcome.
27 comments so far
cooldj
Oct 31, 2009 at 2:23 PM
Comment #1:):):)
ginkoh
Oct 31, 2009 at 2:28 PM
Comment #2True we should not sell Ranger for whatever reason. BUT I will not surprise if Assley has plan to sell him for cash.
Robby Bobson
Oct 31, 2009 at 3:33 PM
Comment #3If he would sell the name of St James he wouldnt think twice about selling a youngster he got on a free.
Nile would be a fool to move and we would be a fool to sell him. Hes getting games here, the crowd are on his side and it was us (albiet dennis wise) who gave him a second chance. If he moves to city its another 5 years in the reserves, as they will always buy bigger names.
Also we would be a fool to sell him, as he is only going to get better, even on financial point of view selling him would be idiotic.
Solaidback
Oct 31, 2009 at 3:52 PM
Comment #4Well thats really put the kibosh on that then, I said a few days ago that Ashley would probably sell all our best players in Jan & here we are all of a sudden mentioning that Manc Al Citey are watching ine of the very best talents we have cyrrently at the TOON 🙁
If he sells Ranger, you can also expect Nokan & Jonas to go & if they do, I for one will not be watching anymore of our matches because we’ll not win anymore without our best 2 strikers & the only MF that is attack minded!!!
Solaidback
Oct 31, 2009 at 3:53 PM
Comment #5Btw Ed, have you been on the sherry today as your spelling in this blog is terrible mate.. 😉 😉
Marty-Toon
Oct 31, 2009 at 3:54 PM
Comment #6Well we have sold our best defender in BASSONG so it`s the money that talks in these parts…..
If we don`t hang on to the best we have how can we expect to compete?
Oh and Bassong hobbled off for Spuds today with a hamstring injury…..should have stayed on tyneside buddy 🙂
sirjasontoon
Oct 31, 2009 at 3:55 PM
Comment #7Players will be sold in January I have no doubt about that,I see Ranger,Carrol,Smith,Barton,Jonas,Nolan, Collocini,Taylor,Krul and Harper as sellable assets.
NUFC is just another sport retail outlet and has been since Ashley took over.
Rangerman
Oct 31, 2009 at 4:11 PM
Comment #8Every player has a price, Man City has proven that over the past few years.
Would be a good pay rise for Nile but his development would suffer, you would think someone would advise him against a move this early in his career.
OHurley
Oct 31, 2009 at 6:19 PM
Comment #9If we sell Ranger, I fcuking quit. We don’t need to sell anybody. We need to buy a couple guys that will be helpful to us when we’re back in the premiership. NOT these gawddamned Chumpionship players. They suck, they’re shocking to watch, and they’re a horrible step back. We need to invest in some promising younger players (18-22) who are already good and will continue to grow… IN THE PREMIERSHIP. I swear to God if we actually *buy* some cack garbage like Harewood or Khisanwtf I will fly to Newcastle solely to bust someone’s @$$. I mean it’s really simple MA- REALLY FCUKING SIMPLE:
YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR, YOU FAT COCKNEY CNUT.
Obviously, you bought sh!te and look at us now. Buy us a good fullback, sign Simpson on a contract, get us a proper winger, and please for Christ’s sake, buy us a quality striker who can jumpstart Ranger and Carroll.
Oh, and if you wanna sell somebody, sell Nicky @rse.
Troy Stavers
Oct 31, 2009 at 7:15 PM
Comment #10The latest is and its true from a great source;
Ashley is so P*ss*d off with the fans he has approached Orange Telecommunications to sponsor the club. His plan is to change the strip to orange!!
I know one of the head honcho’s at Newcastle city council who is in last ditch emergency talks to veto the plan as it would ruin the status of the city.
Obviously the club is a beacon for Newcastle city and the council are furious and will take it to the Euro courts should he get the agreement with Orange!
It should break in one of the papers tomorrow. It looks like George Caulkin from the Times is trying to get in as a late entry. If not it will break on Monday!!
stuart no9
Oct 31, 2009 at 7:36 PM
Comment #11for effort you have to give ranger 100% BUT he has to start knocking a few goals in, (for his own good) remember he is a striker, historically, any “no9” going so long without scoring , woud be getting a bit of gyp by now, dont forget Shearer , Owen, were only 16- 17 when they were scoring hattricks, and against better teams, in better leagues, than now
Troy Stavers
Oct 31, 2009 at 7:49 PM
Comment #12@ Stu9
Absolutely.
Its an early stage in his career but essentially, the difference between great strikers and also rans is the eye for goal.
The likes of Rooney, Owen, Shearer, Fowler were that they popped the goals in from day one. They also had stinker games and it took them a few years to develop all round. But that killer instinct is there from the outset.
I laugh at Stardust who proclaims he’s the greatest!!
Far from it. He has immense potential to be a top level footballer but certainly not a top level goal scorer.
Goal scoring is something you can work on. But all the best strikers in the world, it comes naturally and it’s there from day one . They then work on the other aspects of their game, unlike i fear Ranger, who needs to develop that talent.
Rangerman
Oct 31, 2009 at 7:55 PM
Comment #13He’s not predominantly a goalscorer though, he’s a hold up man that brings others into play so comparing him to the likes of Shearer and Owen is pointless as well as stupid.
Goals will come for him in time but his contribution towards the team is what counts, I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen an 18 year old with as much power and pace as him, his ability to hold off defenders is what you would expect from an established veteran.
Rangerman
Oct 31, 2009 at 8:02 PM
Comment #14Rooney a prolific goalscorer?
He’s only scored more than 15 league goals once.
Troy Stavers
Oct 31, 2009 at 8:05 PM
Comment #15Fair point rangerman but as long as people don’t expect him to be the next SuperMac which some seem to think.
Particularly Stardust which I mentioned.
For me, our best partnership is Carroll and Ranger.
Troy Stavers
Oct 31, 2009 at 8:11 PM
Comment #16Michael Owen has never scored 20 in a season but is still a prolific goalscorer.
But I know what you mean , and i’m sure you get my gist.
Rangerman
Oct 31, 2009 at 8:19 PM
Comment #17It’s hard to say what he will become, if you look at the likes of Les Ferdinand and Drogba they didn’t start off as consistent goalscorers so it would be madness to think he couldn’t go on to have a successful career finding the back of the net, his record at reserve level is very good so he does know where the back of the net is, it hasn’t helped in that most of the games he started he was playing up top on his own and very little was created for him.
We just have to remember that he’s only a kid still with a lot of developing to do, if he can improve as much as Carroll has done over the past 2 years then we should have a quality player if we can keep him, getting on his back because he hasn’t scored yet isn’t going to help anyone.
stuart no9
Oct 31, 2009 at 8:29 PM
Comment #18rangerman, what is rangers position?
Rangerman
Oct 31, 2009 at 8:32 PM
Comment #19Michael Owen has never scored 20 in a season but is still a prolific goalscorer.
But I know what you mean , and i’m sure you get my gist.
……
That’s more down to injury rather than Owen not being prolific, his goal to games ratio up until his knee injury was top class.
If you look at his first 2 full seasons Owen scored 36 in 66 in the league, Rooney on the other hand scored 15 in 67, he seems to score in patches too unlike Owen, Shearer etc who scored more on a consistent basis.
To be fair to Rooney he does seem to be finding some consistent goalscoring form this season now Ronaldo has gone.
Speaking of late developers, I remember a player that got released by our academy and went off to play in Canada before going to Man Utd who also didn’t think he was good enough, he then went on to be one of the best players at the dominant Liverpool side of the 80’s and is the best player I’ve ever seen play for us.
Rangerman
Oct 31, 2009 at 8:34 PM
Comment #20rangerman, what is rangers position?
…….
What point are you trying to make?
He’s a striker so he should be banging them in on a consistent basis from his debut?
Rangerman
Oct 31, 2009 at 8:52 PM
Comment #21A quick count up shows Ranger has only played 413 minutes of first team football without including injury time in the league and from his 4 starts 3 of those were played as a lone striker.
Talk about putting pressure on young players.
stuart no9
Oct 31, 2009 at 8:55 PM
Comment #22rangerman
the point is strikers score goals,traditionaly,thats what they get paid for.i never said he should be knocking them in left right and centre,but maybe a goal or two would be good for his confidence, as for your comment about being a hold up player, that is not as far as i am aware is not a position, it is a QUALITY,DECENT STRIKERS have
Troy Stavers
Oct 31, 2009 at 8:57 PM
Comment #23@rangerman
Michael Owen has never scored 20 in a season but is still a prolific goalscorer.
But I know what you mean , and i’m sure you get my gist.
……
That’s more down to injury rather than Owen not being prolific, his goal to games ratio up until his knee injury was top class.
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Ranger, I probably didn’t explain it very clearly. However I did say owen was prolific. I should have stated the obvious, yes it was down to injury and he is still the same today.
He is still a one in two player. however he is suffering now coming on as sub at Man utd.
That will knock his record.
I totally agree about Beardsley being the best player I’ve ever seen at Newcastle and i’ve been going since 1980.
As i have said, Ranger is a great prospect and deserves his first team start. Yes, Sir Les and Rooney weren’t prolific but developed, but my whole point is, some like Stardust seem to think he is gonna be a prolific striker.
I don’t think you can ever say that when a player is 18 years old and hasn’t scored a first team goal.!
Particularly when they didn’t make the first team in the premier and are only playing in the Championship.
It’s early so I don’t agree with those who get carried away.!
OHurley
Oct 31, 2009 at 9:05 PM
Comment #24wish to god I could’ve seen Beardo play. Born too late and on the wrong continent lol
stuart no9
Oct 31, 2009 at 9:46 PM
Comment #25ohurley did not see beardo play
how sad , tou missed something special,only 2 come close,although differant positions, gazza and , tony green
RetroBiscuits
Nov 1, 2009 at 1:50 AM
Comment #26Ashley wont sell Ranger in January because if we get promoted he will be worth more!
Sgt. Heagerty
Nov 1, 2009 at 5:47 AM
Comment #27Let us pray to the almight that ashley doesn’t get hungry and pawn Nile off for a bit of lunch. A big bite that is. How in the world did Newcastle United get stuck with this worthless piece of crap. No way we should get rid of Nile. We need to develop more home grown talent if we are gonna get back to where we were especially if we are stuck with stupid (ashley). He will not come out of pocket to strengthen this squad. he wants to get the club promoted so he can put the club back up for sale and bring more turmoil to the toon. Have you heard he wants to sale the naming rights to the Holy St. James Park. Can you imagine Newcastle playing at Northern Rock Stadium or whatever. It makes me sick. This man is a blood sucking tick and he will pay for his sins someday. Well thats all i got from the states. Keep the faith boys we can make it even with dumass as the owner. Toon army is alive here in america. Peace