October 29, 2020 10.13 am This story is over 41 months old

Controversial ex Premier League striker joins Spalding United

A fresh start after a troubled past
Former Premier League striker Nile Ranger has joined the Lincolnshire club. | Photo: Spalding United

A former Premier League striker with a controversial past has joined Spalding United in a week that has seen the non-league club sign four other new players and appoint a new management team.

Nile Ranger, whose former clubs include Premier League side Newcastle, joined the Northern Premier League Division One South East club on Wednesday.

The 29-year-old, who also played for Blackpool, Swindon and Southend, joins with a troubled past having been sentenced to 11 weeks in a Young Offenders Institute over a robbery when he was just 15-years-old.

In 2011 he was questioned by Newcastle for posing with a replica gun in a photograph and later that year he was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a man in the city centre, leaving the victim unconscious on the street.

In October 2011 he was charged with being drunk and disorderly in Newcastle’s Cathedral Square and in March 2012 he was fined by the FA for making homophobic comments on Twitter.

He was also arrested on suspicion of rape in a Newcastle hotel room in January 2013. He was charged with rape in July 2013 before being cleared of the charge in March 2014.

The long list of incidents also includes being arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage to a taxi in Liverpool, which he later pleaded guilty to and was fined £1,000. He claimed that he was angry at being called a rapist by the driver.

Most recently, he was charged in December 2016 with conspiracy to defraud and to commit money laundering. In May 2017 he was sentenced to eight months in prison, but he was released after 10 weeks of his sentence due to “his consistently excellent custodial behaviour”.

Former DR Congo international Gabriel Zakuani was appointed as the new first team manager at Spalding earlier this week, with Neal Spafford taking the role of assistant manager.

On the signing of Ranger, Zakuani said: “I’ve known Nile for many years and we grew up in the same area. He has all the talent in the world and knows he has a point to prove! In the conversations we have had, he wants an opportunity to get himself back on the map.

“I believe he can easily play for any team in League One and most Championship clubs.

“He has promised me he will get his head down and prove to everyone that the penny has dropped. This opportunity will allow people to see he still has the hunger to succeed”

Meanwhile, former Newcastle and Portsmouth striker Lomana Tresor Lua Lua joined the Tulips as an attacking coach,,with Ronayne Marsh-Brown taking the role of first team coach. Shane Spafford remains at the club as physio.