Five years on from his famous rant at Nile Ranger, The True Geordie’s latest podcast features the ex-NUFC bad boy himself – with him talking about the striker’s struggles on Tyneside, his recent misbehaviour and his current battle to find a new club as a result.
As we all know, Ranger is perhaps one of the most controversial characters English football has seen over the past decade – with him spending more time in prison than he has scoring goals over the past few years.
After being sacked by Southend earlier in the year after consistently turning up late, Ranger is still without a club – with him admitting recently that he finally needs to ‘focus’ if he wants to be given one last shot in football.
Here’s his interview with the True Geordie – a story between the two that has gone full circle given it was his rant about Ranger (watch that here) that saw him break onto the scene in the first place:
Ranger is a controversial character and someone I don’t have much sympathy for, but this is a very good watch – even if you can’t stand the bloke.
Here’s what he said during a recent interview with The Sun:
“I’ve been sacked from a few clubs, which is obviously not good.
“But I haven’t been in trouble for ages. Southend only got rid of me for lates, which was stupid on my part.
“Everyone is late now and again but I can’t be. Simple as.
“I look in the mirror and I’m like, ‘You are actually growing up but you have to work on your timekeeping’.
“I would wake up late and try to sneak into training in the back entrance.
“There were times where I would be up to an hour late.
“The players were getting on to me saying ‘Nile, stop taking the p…, you need to get with it because you are turning us against you’.
“The gaffer, Phil Brown, was telling me the same thing. They just wanted to help me but I wasn’t listening.
“But eventually the chairman, Ron Martin, pulled the plug and said enough is enough. I can have no complaints. Ron bent over backwards for me. Players wondered why I got special treatment but he just wanted me to get back to the top.
Here’s what he then said about going to jail last year:
“I got caught up in something and it got messy. I think I just wanted to be a bit greedy.
“Lockdown in jail was stiff. I was banged up for 23 hours a day with cockroaches coming through my cell. And the food was shocking.
“I think some of the guvs knew who I was and some would try and mistreat me but I just got through it. I knew a few people in there and I know how to hold my own.
“There was a little incident when I got my cousin to post on Instagram about Cheick Tiote when he died.
“I spoke to him on the phone and gave him my password but I didn’t know at the time my cell-mate had been hiding a phone.
“They thought it was me that posted it on Instagram. I had an adjudication and they said I was not guilty and because I behaved well, I did only two-and-a-half months and then came out on a tag.
“My time inside made me reflect and think ‘I need to focus’ but I came out and lateness let me down, which is crazy.”
