Archive for tag: Nile Ranger scores hat-trick for Newcastle reserves.

What is Nile Ranger’s first team future?

January 18th, 2011 | 42 Comments |

Nile Ranger, Newcastle United
First team future?
Nile Ranger scored a hat-trick for the reserves yesterday, but where does he stand in the pecking order of Newcastle United strikers?

I can’t help but think that Ranger is sliding down the list of strikers as far as Alan Pardew is concerned.

Given that Andy Carroll is our number one striker, it seems that Shola Ameobi, Peter Lovenkrands and Leon Best are all likely to be picked ahead of Ranger, with Best’s ranking undoubtedly helped by his hat-trick against West Ham.

And what about Xisco? We paid £5.7m for him and I can’t remember seeing him since he came on as a sub during the 6-0 thrashing of Villa. I suspect that Ranger is at least ahead of him in the pecking order.

But it may even be worse than that for Ranger because there’s always the option of pushing someone like Nolan or Ben Arfa up to support a striker, which could drop Ranger even further down the list.

And then of course there’s the rumours that we might be looking to sign another striker.

So where does this leave Nile Ranger in terms of his first team status? (more…)