Former Barnsley, Sheffield Wednesday and Newcastle United forward joins club in seventh tier

Once considered among England’s most exciting prospects, Ranger’s career has been dogged by legal troubles and disciplinary issues.

These issues saw him slide down the pyramid and prior to joining Kettering, he had been without a club since 2022.

However, he was unveiled by the seventh-tier Poppies last night (September 9) and made his debut for the club in a 2-1 win over St Ives Town. Ranger has had two loan stints in Yorkshire, both during his time as a prodigy at Newcastle United. He first moved to Barnsley, making five appearances for the Reds in 2011.

Later on in the 2011/12 campaign, he joined Sheffield Wednesday and was part of the Owls squad that clinched automatic promotion to the Championship. He scored twice for the club over the course of his eight outings.

The forward was left Newcastle by mutual consent in 2013, going on to have spells in the EFL with Swindon Town, Blackpool and Southend United.

He nearly had another stint in Yorkshire, coming close to joining Leeds United in 2014 during the controversial reign of David Hockaday.

However, he failed to live up to his potential and eventually slid into non-league football. He was last on the books of Boreham Wood, who compete in the National League.