Former Newcastle bad boy Nile Ranger was once an unexpected passenger on a team-mate’s car as he “did 50mph down the motorway” when the striker refused to let go
Andy Carroll has claimed in his new book that he once drove 50 miles per hour down the motorway with Nile Ranger on his car bonnet. The pair struck up a friendship at Newcastle in 2008 before Ranger’s antics forced Carroll to reconsider the connection.
Ranger, currently playing for Whyteleafe in the Isthmian League Premier Division, was still new at Newcastle when he propositioned Carroll with a night out in Leeds. His team-mate took him up on the offer, heading to Yorkshire with Ranger and his pal. The evening in question came off without a hitch but it was the morning after when trouble emerged. Carroll, currently player-assistant manager at Dagenham and Redbridge, was in a rush to get home when a disagreement over the seating arrangement unfolded.
Writing in his new autobiography, ‘Owning It’, Carroll revealed his unorthodox solution to the disagreement between Ranger and his friend. And it ended with Ranger flying down the motorway at 50mph – except he wasn’t even in the car.
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“The problems only started the following morning after we’d checked out of our hotel,” he wrote. “We were walking towards my car when Nile’s mate shouted, ‘Shotgun!’, meaning he got to sit in the front.
“As every schoolboy knows, those are the rules, but not according to Nile. He climbed on the front of the car, wedged the passenger door open and kept repeating, ‘I ain’t moving until he gets out of the front seat’.
“I really needed to get home and pleaded with him to just get in the back seat, but it was like talking to a brick wall. So in the end, I drove off with Nile still standing on the front of the car and the door open. I was doing about 50 mph down the motorway when the police pulled me over.”
Anyone else guilty of a similar offence might expect to be arrested for endangering life on a public highway. Except the Premier League pair somehow wrangled their way out of the situation, while Ranger even scolded the police officer in question.
The excerpt continued: “‘You can’t do that’, said one of the police officers. ‘I can’t do anything about it’, I replied. ‘I need to get home and he refuses to move.’
“Meanwhile, Nile kept saying to the other police officer, ‘Get him out of my seat, it’s mine.’ When the officer threatened to arrest him, Nile said to him, ‘Give us your badge number, I’m gonna get you done’.”
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It seemed to do the trick, at least, as there’s no mention of either forward getting booked over the incident. However, it did teach Carroll a lesson he never forgot – don’t take Nile Ranger up on the offer of a night out in future.
The Dags striker went on to say he learnt to “never, ever go out with this lunatic again.” And as far as fans know, Carroll held up his side of the bargain.
Ranger benefited from Carroll’s move to Liverpool in January 2011 but ultimately left for Swindon Town in 2013. The Whyteleafe forward has since turned a new leaf and is set to face ex-Arsenal prospect Jay Emmanuel-Thomas in a charity boxing match later this month.