I made 62 appearances for Newcastle United - but I messed it all up after signing £3m contract

14 years and eight clubs later, Ranger, now 33, is playing semi-professional football in the seventh tier with Kettering Town. The striker made 62 appearances for Newcastle, scoring three goals.

After a positive initial impact at Newcastle, Ranger was handed a five-and-a-half-year contract understood to be worth £10,000 a week (almost £3million in total).

Watch Geordie Journos on ShotsTV! Newcastle United takeover anniversary special

But a series of off-field troubles and run-ins with the law saw Ranger’s career hit a downward spiral.

At age 22, Ranger came off the bench in a 2-1 defeat at Everton in what would prove to be his final Premier League appearance back in January 2013. He was released by the club a couple of months later and went on to join League One side Swindon Town that summer.

He went on to have spells at Blackpool and Southend United before dropping into non-league football.

Reflecting on his career, Ranger told BBC Sport: “I had a decent career. I was on decent money and then I messed it all up.

“Team-mates, friends and managers would say ‘Nile, your chances are going to run out’. I wouldn’t listen. I was wild, wild, wild.

“I know I have baggage. If I had behaved I would have stayed at the top, but I was too unruly.”

Ranger was sentenced to prison on two separate occasions for armed robbery and online banking fraud. He even had to play with an electronic tag on his ankle after being released in 2017. Although he’s since departed professional football, the 33-year-old has made a positive start to life at Kettering, scoring five goals in six appearances for the Southern League Premier side.

But he hasn’t ruled out a return to playing full-time.

“I could play in any team at my age if I’m fit – any team,” he Ranger added. “It has to be a fit me, not a rusty me. But the rust is coming off.

“I still feel there is one big move left in me. I’m going to roll the dice one more time.

“My mum has had to come to meetings at every club I have been at to discuss my behaviour. It’s been like that since my school days.”