With the excitement of the first home game on Saturday, the news about Nile Ranger's arrival was largely swept under the carpet. They do say if you're going to break some news that might not go down too well then announce it on a busy day! Whilst it's unlikely Blackpool planned that, it did mean that some of the potential negativity about Ranger's arrival wouldn't have been heard.

We know that he's played at Newcastle and Swindon (with loans at Barnsley and Sheffield Wednesday) and was very successful in the England Under 19 set up, however if you look at the 23 year olds wikipedia page it's his 'Controversies' that fill more of the page than his football career.

In 2007, at the age of 15, he was sentenced to 11 weeks in a Young Offenders Institute after being convicted of participating in street robbery in Muswell Hill, London.

On 27 August 2011 he was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a man in Newcastle city centre, leaving the victim unconscious in the street, but was found not guilty of this in trial in October 2012.

In October 2011 he was charged with being drunk and disorderly in Newcastle's Cathedral Square. The charge came only days after Ranger had been reinstated to Newcastle United's first-team training after a three-month exile in the club's reserves. In March 2012 he was convicted of being drunk and disorderly. Prior to this, in May 2011 Ranger was questioned by Newcastle after posing with a replica gun in a photograph

In March 2012, he was fined by The FA for making homophobic comments on social networking website Twitter. Later in the month he was arrested once more, this time for breaching terms of his bail whilst awaiting trial on four assault charges.

In the early hours of 23 September 2012, police were called to a house in Enfield, north London after reports of a disturbance. The front door of the property was badly damaged and Ranger was arrested at the scene and later charged with criminal damage.The charge against Ranger wa dropped in November 2012 after the court accepted his explanation that he had damaged the door after fearing his girlfriend was being kidnapped.

On 25 January 2013, Ranger was arrested on suspicion of rape in a Newcastle hotel room. In connection with the same alleged offence, Ranger was charged with rape on 8 July 2013. On 4 March 2014 he was cleared of the charge at Newcastle Crown Court.

On 14 March 2013, Ranger was charge with common assault after an incident in Newcastle city centre.

In May 2013, Ranger was involved in a car crash after swerving to avoid a fox and crashing into a parked car.

In July 2013, Ranger once again hit the headlines after getting a tattoo of his own surname on his forehead.

On 3 January 2014, Swindon Town chairman Lee Power confirmed in a press conference that the club would be meeting with Ranger and his management in the following days to confirm his sacking due to his disrespect shown towards the club through constant absence during training. Power said "I'm the chairman of the club and I've got to do what's best for the club. Unfortunately, what's best for the club is having to sit down with Nile and talk about parting ways. While this is ongoing Nile is not training with the squad."

On 23 March 2014, Ranger was arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage to a taxi in Liverpool. He later pleaded guilty to criminal damage and was fined £1,000 and was ordered to pay compensation to the taxi driver for breaking a window.

On 28 April 2014 Ranger was charged with criminal damage after an incident at a block of flats in Swindon on 13 April. He was later fined for damage to the door of his flat in relation to this incident which was captured on CCTV, in an incident where he additionally appeared to strike his female companion three times on the face.]

In May 2014, Ranger was found not guilty of being drunk in charge of his vehicle, after being found asleep in the drivers seat of his car on the M4 motorway.

It's fair to say that Ranger makes Keigan Parker look like Mother Theresa! The big question is what he will do on the pitch. Ten goals in 28 competitive games was a decent return at Swindon and now he arrives at a Blackpool side looking to turn over a new leaf. Leaving behind the bright lights of London, hopefully our quiet, sleepy seaside town will have few temptations for the player!

Photo: Action Images

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