Nile Ranger

[Tampa Blue]

Martindale: From prison to Livingston boss

David Martindale says "judge me on who I am now, not who I was in 2004" as he waits for Scottish FA approval after being appointed Livingston manager.

www.bbc.co.uk

Well this guy was sentenced to 6 and a half years in prison and is now a Manager and seems to have turned his life around.

As to whether Ranger is able, willing or even interested in turning his life around is of course only known to him.

 

[londonblue]

I'm just going from what Ron said in front of me, i'm paraphrasing but it was something along the lines of I don't believe Nile will ever change and it is a closed chapter. Obviously time can change things but when it was said it was said with conviction and seemed very final.

Let's be fair though, it was Ron. Certainty isn't really his strong suit.

 

[londonblue]

Martindale: From prison to Livingston boss

David Martindale says "judge me on who I am now, not who I was in 2004" as he waits for Scottish FA approval after being appointed Livingston manager.

www.bbc.co.uk

Well this guy was sentenced to 6 and a half years in prison and is now a Manager and seems to have turned his life around.

As to whether Ranger is able, willing or even interested in turning his life around is of course only known to him.

I have no doubt he always wants to turn his life around. I'm just not convinced it will ever happen.

 

[Rob1920]

If he's not coming back its all academic anyway but we live in a society where we give people a second chance. I read something on the BBC website last week about an ex-drug dealing gangster who'd spent years in jail who is now a Church Minister working closely with young black kids to steer them down a better path. If no one had given him a second chance there'd be more kids killed on the streets. If NR was looking to come back, I'd tell him first to go away and spend a month getting as fit as he can. If he manages that, let him train for a month (all on no pay) at the club. If he shows the right attitude, put him on a month by month deal on low wages and see. He'll soon mess up if he's going to, and he gets no second chances. As a footballer, its obvious to anyone who's watched him he's got higher level quality in terms of first touch & vision. If he was the same player we had before it went wrong he would improve us. But it aint happening so its a non-argument.

 

[londonblue]

Ian Wright went to prison in his younger days, seemed to turn out ok!

According to Wikipedia, Ian Wright spent 2 weeks in prison for failing to pay fines for driving without tax or insurance. He couldn't afford the fines so went to prison.

It's not really comparable.

 

[BARNETBLUE]

It’s a win win for me, his got the talent for the championship so if 90% fit can still do a job for us in this league for sure

Sir are u completely mad!?...Im surprised Martin has even allowed this given the problems he casused the club before.

 

[Jai]

If he's not coming back its all academic anyway but we live in a society where we give people a second chance. I read something on the BBC website last week about an ex-drug dealing gangster who'd spent years in jail who is now a Church Minister working closely with young black kids to steer them down a better path. If no one had given him a second chance there'd be more kids killed on the streets. If NR was looking to come back, I'd tell him first to go away and spend a month getting as fit as he can. If he manages that, let him train for a month (all on no pay) at the club. If he shows the right attitude, put him on a month by month deal on low wages and see. He'll soon mess up if he's going to, and he gets no second chances. As a footballer, its obvious to anyone who's watched him he's got higher level quality in terms of first touch & vision. If he was the same player we had before it went wrong he would improve us. But it aint happening so its a non-argument.

A second chance is fine but not sure about a 6th/7th/8th chance.

 

[tottenham541]

Sir are u completely mad!?...Im surprised Martin has even allowed this given the problems he casused the club before.

RM has got to trust his managers, if MM thinks he has something he will see it in training and if he can get a lot of fitness back then MM will offer something as he should tear up league two with his ability.

 

[Rattus Norvegicus]

Loving the discussion so far - almost all the posts are rational and offer many different valid viewpoints.

Can I ask if anyone has heard of a story by Mr Charles Dickins in which a chap called Ebenezer Scrooge changes his life one Christmas?

It is, of course, just a work of fiction.

 

[SUBBlue]

I th

Loving the discussion so far - almost all the posts are rational and offer many different valid viewpoints.

Can I ask if anyone has heard of a story by Mr Charles Dickins in which a chap called Ebenezer Scrooge changes his life one Christmas?

It is, of course, just a work of fiction.

I think MM could be visiting 3 kinds of spirits if Ranger ends up signing.

 

[Mad Cyril]

Nile Ranger has not played professional football for three years.

The fact that no one else has, taken a punt on him should be enough reason to leave well alone even if we didn't have first hand knowledge of his poor attitude and questionable lifestyle.

 

[Blues4LifeDan]

Loving the discussion so far - almost all the posts are rational and offer many different valid viewpoints.

Can I ask if anyone has heard of a story by Mr Charles Dickins in which a chap called Ebenezer Scrooge changes his life one Christmas?

It is, of course, just a work of fiction.

Or maybe it's the Blackadder version and MM starts off nice and ends up horrible.

 

[tottenham541]

He something for nothing and if it offers us something like goals to help us stay up then I’d be prepared to give it a go coz at the moment we haven’t even got a forward that looks like getting even close to 10 goals to give us a chance of staying up, we need goals if we are to stay up so no harm in looking eh, he could even make us a few quid along the way.

 

[BluePartridge]

Or maybe it's the Blackadder version and MM starts off nice and ends up horrible.

It's ****ing Lord of the Rings, and MM is Golem. Ron Martin is obviously Sauron.

 

[Ricky Otto]

Nile Ranger has not played professional football for three years.

The fact that no one else has, taken a punt on him should be enough reason to leave well alone even if we didn't have first hand knowledge of his poor attitude and questionable lifestyle.

Pretty much the situation last time we signed him

 

[Blues4LifeDan]

It's ****ing Lord of the Rings, and MM is Golem. Ron Martin is obviously Sauron.

What, keeps losing control of his staff?! ?

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

He trains and is ****. Nothing lost.

He trains and is decent he may get a month to month contract and is not worth renewing then he's gone.

He trains and is excellent and has a month to month and does well. He plays well and helps the team. Earns longer contract.

Where does the club lose out?

Ball is firmly in our court and not in Rangers.

I see more scenarios where the club loses out than gains.

How can the club lose out?

1. Read this https://www.fourfourtwo.com/feature...-club-learning-not-waste-a-second-weymouth-fc and see how MM structures training. How does that fit with having someone turn up late, someone ambling between sessions, someone messing about in the classroom and not taking it seriously?

2. Some of the youngsters see Ranger being deified by the fans and decide they want to be like that. Maybe they start socialising with him, maybe they just start turning up late to training, maybe they just half-arse training. Is he the role model you want for Egbri, Acquah, Klass, Kinali etc?

3. We sign him on a month to month. It goes well for the first month. Well enough that we don't then sign another striker in the transfer window. Then 6 weeks in, it starts to slip as it always does. He's late/he's hungover/he's failed another drugs test - we're forced to cut bait again, only this time we can't add anyone - at least anyone good - as the transfer window has closed.

4. He doesn't stick to covid protocols. He instead goes to a houseparty, contracts covid and passes it onto team-mates. As we're now out of embargo we have enough players so can't cancel but have to play a match with the likes of Goodship, Klass and Howard starting.

All seem more likely scenarios than him being a reformed character this time.

Ian Wright went to prison in his younger days, seemed to turn out ok!

The issue isn't that he went to prison once. It's that he's blown more chances than we've created this season.

 

[ThurrockShrimper]

According to Wikipedia, Ian Wright spent 2 weeks in prison for failing to pay fines for driving without tax or insurance. He couldn't afford the fines so went to prison.

It's not really comparable.

true, but I was just pointing out that just because someone has a past, it doesn't mean they can't change as a person

 

[GBJ]

I think its more to do with the manager at the time. If they are dead against then Ron will say this. Even now with a manager prepared to take a look the message is being carefully managed.

Agreed. Everything that is happening & has been said, has been done for a specific reason.

If Nile’s stint doesn’t work out, then he goes on his merry way & the club stick to the official party line that he was just keeping fit.

However If MM decides to give him a chance, then the club say something along the lines of; “Nile has really impressed us, and we think he can add something different to the squad” etc etc

 

[GNH]

Trying to compare Ian Wright to Nile Ranger is not reasonable.

As far as I can tell Ian Wright made one small mistake, was given the chance to turn it around and the rest is history.

Nile did many terrible things was given another chance, then another, then another, then another and has shown no ability to shake himself out of this downward spiral. I'm sorry but once that's happened you don't deserve anything else.

Please no.