Ex-Newcastle striker Nile Ranger to miss Southend game because of 7pm curfew

Former Newcastle forward Nile Ranger will miss Southend United’s League One game against Shrewsbury Town on Tuesday because of a curfew.

Ranger has featured in Southend’s past two games but the clubs’s manager Phil Brown says his electronic tag will mean he misses the 7:45pm BST kick-off.

Ranger, 26, was released from prison in last month having served 10 weeks of an eight-month sentence for online banking fraud.

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“Unfortunately the tag is causing me a problem,” said Brown.

“His curfew is 7pm until 7am and it doesn’t look like we’ve got the opportunity of playing Nile.”

Ranger, who has also turned out for Swindon and Blackpool was released early because of his “consistently excellent custodial behaviour”.

He made his return to league football as a 53rd-minute substitute against Rochdale on 3 September, before starting Southend’s 2-1 defeat by Charlton on Saturday.

Brown told BBC local radio: “I’ve been in touch with governors, as opposed to coaches about what systems we should be playing. These are problems that we’ve got.

“I’ve spoken to Nile and it’s looking like it’s 90-95% that he’s unavailable for Tuesday.”

Brown added that the Shrewsbury match is likely to be the last game affected by Ranger’s curfew, with the electronic tag set to be removed before Southend’s match at Fleetwood on 23 September.