In what was a little bit of a surprise, Newcastle have included former Southampton youngster Nile Ranger in their squad for the trip to the Saints tomorrow, only a week or so after Nile rejoined the first team squad. 21 year-old Ranger has inadvertently put his football career on the back burner, after he has been involved far too many times with the police since the summer of last year.
Nile Ranger in action against Sunderland U21 earlier this week
But because of all the injuries Newcastle have at the moment – to Shola Ameobi and 17 year-old Adam Campbell – he is still next in line and makes the squad to visit the club Newcastle signed him from back in 2008, when Kevin Keegan was still the manager.
Nile has played over 50 times for Newcastle and looked like a future star when Chris Hughton was at the club, but his sloppy time keeping, and questionable exploits off the pitch over the last 18 months have put a huge question mark against him ever becoming a successful footballer.
Alan Pardew has tried his best to coax the London lad to give 100% in training and to arrive on time, but with only limited success.
The Newcastle manager talked about the 21 year-old today:
“I still think he owes us, and I said that to him this morning, so I’m not saying anything that I haven’t said to him personally.” “I think he owes us, and now is the time to be humble, to come in and play football and concentrate on football.”
This is an opportunity we never thought Nile would get again at Newcastle, and we all have to hope he sees the huge opportunity events have given him, and that he buckles down, and Nile Ranger could still have a successful career at Newcastle, although the chances of that happening remain small.
What do you think?
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15 comments so far
Lee Dodd
Nov 24, 2012 at 11:04 AM
Comment #1Give Him One Chance Alan and One Chance Only !!!! Hash it up and Rip His Contract up or is it put him in the shop window for January ??
geordie157
Nov 24, 2012 at 11:05 AM
Comment #2Shows the lack of depth in the squad, when Ranger is included again. He’s had enough chances already, guess if needs must he might be alright on the left of a front trio.
Ross Lindsay
Nov 24, 2012 at 11:10 AM
Comment #3Never expected him to be involved for us again to be honest, would have been suprised back in the summer if i was to be told that he would participate in any way to this season, however despite his troubles he is still a Newcastle player and i will always hold out the hope that when he plays for us he performs to the best of his ability and can do well for us, got to admit though far from impressed with his personality and attitude towards life
Lee Dodd
Nov 24, 2012 at 11:14 AM
Comment #4Cisse and Ba cant play together maybe Ranger can do something with Cisse ???
Marty-Toon
Nov 24, 2012 at 11:20 AM
Comment #5Only time will tell if the donkey has changed his spots or is it stripes? 😉
blew
Nov 24, 2012 at 11:22 AM
Comment #6In 24 1st team appearances he has not found the net, I dont call that talent. Perhaps if he went on holidays with Shephard and Hall he might score.
blew
Nov 24, 2012 at 11:23 AM
Comment #7Amendment…. Shepherd with an E
sirtoongospel
Nov 24, 2012 at 11:24 AM
Comment #8Lee, at least Ranger would pass, he hasdecent vision for a forward. It has become blatantly obvious though that neither Demba or HBA will pass to Cisse. Not sure why. But if we moved the ball quicker and passed to Cisse earlier, we would pick teams off on the break, much like last season. We were quite defensive then, with Jonas and Cheick grafting their plums off, but Cabaye was finding the front 3 quickly and we looked brilliant on the counter. Demba doesn’t want to play on the left though so we abandoned it. What we should have done was played someone else on the left side and told Ba to sort his attitude out. Pardew has knelt to Ba’s demands though so we ar stuck with it as it is.
All i know is when Ba plays front and centre we play awful football. As soon as he came on the other night we stopped playing. Before that we were in total contro, got in behind them a few times and Cisse scored a perfectly good goal also. All changed when HBA went off and Ba came on.
Graeme
Nov 24, 2012 at 11:24 AM
Comment #9We have paid the A’hole a fortune since he arrived – for what return??
I hope he plays, has a blinder and it gets us the win. If it puts him back on the road to salvage his career, all the better.
I think there is a good chance he and Cisse could actually complement each other which can only be good news for all of us!!
NEWEXPATMAGPIE
Nov 24, 2012 at 11:49 AM
Comment #10I would pick Xisco before Ranger !
Re- Post! I am not happy that some are on here calling for Pardew to be sacked !
The performance of the lads has been poor this season so far but the answer is not to sack the manger. Our form is disappointing, and i too am not happy with it either.
But, the only solution that of some of you come up with is to continually sack managers which at the end of the day, will get us no-where.
Nothing stated on here will ever have an effect on what actually happens with the club itself, and thank gawd for that !
The funny thing is, when things are going well, like up to a point, last season for example , where is then all the criticism which has appeared on here over the last week ?
Sacking Pardew would be a step backwards, plus who would we get to replace him?
It is then not surprising that my posts on here are now few and far between. I read this blog almost every day, and lots of the points made are just garbage. There is seldom, something positive or constructive to reply to?
There is a lot of swearing and name-calling when one poster disagrees with the vieuws of another, which sometimes annoys me too!
However, i will carry on following the blog with the occasional reply and comment when i think its needed. Luckily most of you seem to be okay and its just a minority who just don,t have a clue what they are on about!
HWTL !
Premiership Manager
Nov 24, 2012 at 1:20 PM
Comment #11I wouldn’t like to see pardue sacked but he does need to look at his tactics. We simply cannot continue to carry three or more players in the hope we will score.
Crucially the team need to go back to basics and we need to retain possesion and pass the ball.
Ranger can unlock defences, he has shown signs of being an outstanding player but has never been given a chance or extended run in the first team. Routledge was the same without the baggage however he has gone on to become the player some of us knew he would but unfortunately not in a black and white shirt.
lesh
Nov 24, 2012 at 1:45 PM
Comment #12Re-post in supprt of NEWEXPATMAGPIE.
Catchy and others on the sack Pardew bit, please give it a rest, be mature, be positive and use your loaves – sacking him will likely lead to the drop.
If that’s what you want, I just don;t know how you can even think of yourselves as supporters of Newcastle United!
NEWEXPATMAGPIE
Nov 24, 2012 at 2:04 PM
Comment #13@12:
Really appreciate the support Mate !
Geordie Matriarch
Nov 24, 2012 at 2:46 PM
Comment #14I agree with you as well NEWEXPATMAGPIE – not that anybody on this site ever takes a blind bit of notice of me!!!
giimps
Nov 24, 2012 at 5:27 PM
Comment #15Even though Ranger is a numpty and has no sense (or so it seems) he is a better footballer than Xisco and can change a game with his power and pace.
When we are in such dire straights for goals, he may just be the one to change things, Benny cant play so we need to change it, Ba and Cisse cannot play together when Benny is on the pitch, maybe this is the answer (maybe not) but I would prefer us to try this vs Southampton rather than Stoke or Bordeaux.
He is a gonk but he`s our gonk and as such ,if he plays we need to support him, who knows, he may just turn his life around ,stranger things have happened (although, not many)
HWTL