Former Blackpool man signs for new club after two-year hiatus

Nigel Ranger, a former striker for Blackpool, has recently signed with an English non-league team and is back playing football.

Ranger has joined the Kettering Town team, which competes in the Premier Division Central of the Southern League. He started playing right away, as Kettering defeated St. Ives 2-1 last night.

At 7:45 p.m. on Monday, Kettering announced his arrival on Twitter, writing, “Nile has undeniable ability & should offer a different dynamic to the Poppies squad.” Nile, welcome.

The Rangers’ first club in the past two years is the Poppies. Despite only being able to make four FA Cup matches, he was playing for Boreham Wood. March 2022 marked his final game with the National League team because he inked a “undisclosed” deal with Boreham Wood.

Ranger stated he wasn’t done playing football in a December 2022 interview with the Southend Echo. He rejoins a team that is engaged in a promotion fight upon his return to football, although the season has only lasted seven games. With six teams on 13 points, Kettering is currently in seventh place and just two points behind the leaders and the play-off spots.

Ranger remarked, “I’m keeping myself going in anticipation of my next club, and I know I will get one. I just need to get that hunger back.”

“It’s there ish right now, but I know I’ll get fit and really give it my all when I have the chance, but it depressing when clubs turn me down.

“I’m not trying to sound conceited, but I’m better than the strikers they have at their team, and they’re turning me down because of something that happened a long time ago in my history.

They are no longer focussing on me. I’ve grown up because I’m a father now that I’m 31.”

Ranger started his professional career with Newcastle United, where he made 62 appearances and scored three goals. He spent time on loan at Sheffield Wednesday and Barnsley before leaving St. James Park in 2013.

After scoring 10 goals in 28 games for Swindon Town, he was signed by Blackpool. However, he was unable to continue his success at Bloomfield Road, managing just two goals in 14 appearances. In 2016, Ranger moved to Southend United, where he played 49 appearances and scored 10 goals.