Ranger’s promising career was almost over before it had even started.

He signed for Crystal Palace at the age of 10 but was released two years later for bad behaviour at school.

Aged 15, he was sentenced to 11 weeks in a young offenders’ institute for his part in an armed robbery in north London.

“We weren’t going around shooting or stabbing people,” he says. “We wanted to get some quick money so we said ‘let’s just take phones off people’.

“One of our entourage had a knife but I don’t know why because he wasn’t using it. We were acting like idiots.”

There is regret for the hurt he caused.

“Armed robbery is terrible. I wasn’t wanting to hurt them,” adds Ranger. “I was just thinking about getting the goods and running off.

“Now I’m older I do think I must have caused people trauma. At times I was a lunatic. I don’t know what else to call it.”

Ranger was a highly-promising £110-a-week player at Southampton’s academy when he was sentenced but the club supported him following his release and moved him into a flat with his mum, Karen, so she could keep an eye on him.

“My mum has had to come to meetings at every club I have been at to discuss my behaviour,” he says. “It’s been like that since my schooldays.”

Ranger was eventually kicked out of Southampton when he stole boots, training kit and even a staff member’s box of chocolates.

Where was his dad when all this was happening?

“He was around but I lived with my mum. Dad was in my life but what is he going to do? Punch me in the face? He could only speak to me.

“I’m my own man and he used to try to talk sense into me but I just didn’t listen.”

Ranger joined Swindon Town on trial before Newcastle came calling with a two-year contract and a £20,000 signing-on fee.

The 17-year-old headed to the north east hoping to put his troubled past behind him and make a name for himself playing alongside the likes of Fabricio Coloccini, Andy Carroll and Alan Smith.

“I went from nothing to something,” he says.

The fear of injury is impacting on the mental health of players, according to a survey by the Professional Footballers’ Association.

The survey found 68% of more than 1,000 male and female PFA members questioned last season identified this fear as having a major negative impact.

The finding comes after Manchester City midfielder Rodri, prior to suffering a season-ending injury, said players were “close” to striking over increased workload.

Online abuse also had a negative impact on mental well-being for 28% of those surveyed.

PFA director of player well-being Dr Michael Bennett said football “is an incredibly insecure career for many” with players often finding themselves on short-term contracts and feeling “as if they have very little control over their futures”.

“What our survey results highlight is that these ‘on-pitch’ concerns – like injury and performance – can and do affect footballers’ mental health,” Bennett said.

“This exercise is incredibly important to us and allows us to see ‘the person’ behind the player, and we’re always encouraged that players choose to disclose these concerns with us.”

The PFA is part of two separate legal challenges against football’s governing body Fifa over a perceived lack of consultation over the fixture calendar.

Following Rodri’s claim that players were close to taking strike action, City manager Pep Guardiola said any changes must be player-led – comments echoed by Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca who said there is “no doubt” the schedule is too congested.

A recent report said a player welfare ‘red line’ was a maximum of between 50 and 60 matches per season, depending on a player’s age. Rodri played 63 competitive games for club and country last season.

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti said the club are even considering giving players holidays during the season to cope with fixture congestion.

On-pitch performance (45%) and the fear of being dropped (41%) were among the other concerns raised in the PFA survey, while alcohol use (17%) and gambling (15%) were the leading ‘non-industry’ hazards negatively impacting player well-being.

The PFA said its club visits led to 330 well-being interventions, including 60 direct referrals for therapeutic support, while 530 current and former PFA members received mental health support from the union’s partner Sporting Chance clinic.

Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson is expected to be out until at least mid-November with a hamstring injury.

The Brazil international was hurt in the 1-0 win at Crystal Palace on Saturday and was replaced by Vitezslav Jaros after 79 minutes.

Liverpool do not expect Alisson to be back before the next international break, which takes place 11-19 November following a round of league games.

Prior to that, the Premier League leaders face top-flight matches against Chelsea, Arsenal, Brighton and Aston Villa, while they play RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League and Brighton in the Carabao Cup.

Caoimhin Kelleher missed the game at Palace because of illness but is expected to replace Alisson in goal.

“It is quite clear then that he [Kelleher] is the number two,” said Liverpool boss Arne Slot following the game at Selhurst Park.

“Otherwise, the last time Alisson was injured I would have played Vit, but I played Caoimhin. So Caoimhin is the number two and did really well.”

Kelleher came in for Alisson when the 32-year-old had a spell out in September, playing in a league win against Bournemouth and League Cup victory against West Ham.

Liverpool’s first game following the November international break is at Southampton on 24 November, before they then face Real Madrid, Manchester City, Newcastle United and local rivals Everton.

Players from across the football landscape – in England and overseas – were quickly corralled.

Among them: England Under-20 international Charlie Webster, signed for an undisclosed fee from Chelsea after spending last season on-loan in the Netherlands with Heerenveen, Costa Rica international Alejandro Bran, a loan signing from Major League Soccer side Minnesota United, and Terence Vancooten, a Guyana international whose move from Stevenage is understood to have made him one of Burton’s most expensive ever signings.

Burton’s spending has had rivals talking of their new financial flex,, external but Hareide says “speculation that new owners are throwing money at it” was to be expected – despite not wanting to divulge what the rebuild has cost.

“We are not splashing cash at all,” he added.

“I feel we have been smart. I don’t want to disclose any fees, but I can confirm that Terence was a signature signing for us because he is an establish League One player, who performed well last season and he has proven attributes that fit our model and style of player – a backbone we want to have at the club.”

For Hareide it’s a “brick-by-brick” project, about getting everyone “aboard the same boat and rowing in the same direction”.

And when jokingly asked about its similarities to flatpack furniture, he laughed as he said: “I’m Norwegian, we are envious of what the Swedes have done with Ikea”.

And in Tom Davidson, NFG have a Swedish founder who has gone on to become deputy chairman at Burton.

The consortium around him has been “handpicked”, Davidson explains, with Burton Albion the focus of what he calls “dynamic Nordic cooperation” whose aim is to try establish a “sustainable and stable” League One club whose way of working can help shape the game in the countries that each stakeholder represents.

“Can we make a difference from the Nordic scene in the number one football county in the world? The responsibilities, the challenges and the opportunities are massive with going into an English football club,” Davidson said.

“Club football today is so big, so there is space not only for the giants, but for other clubs with other values – smaller vibrant clubs with a big heart and who maybe have a smile on their face.”

At a club with an image shaped by the town it represents, whose stadium holds just under 7,000 spectators and shares a training ground with England’s national teams, Davidson is adamant they can carve out a place as “one of the coolest most progressive clubs”.

“This was the brewing capital of England, we are called the Brewers, we have a fat guy kicking a ball on the shield – we can do so much cool fans stuff at the stadium with this,” he added.

“Burton is a fantastic underdog club, from this little town that has had a miracle journey. We can maybe have a unique and positive space in football.”

Aberdeen striker Kevin Nisbet has been called up to Steve Clarke’s Scotland squad for the upcoming Nations League fixtures against Croatia and Portugal.

The 27-year-old has not played for his country since a substitute appearance in a 2-0 win over Georgia in June 2023, but replaces Lawrence Shankland in the squad after helping Aberdeen to 13 consecutive wins at the start of this season.

Nisbet joined the Pittodrie club on loan from Millwall over the summer and has scored three goals in seven outings for Jimmy Thelin’s side.

He joins Aberdeen teammates Nicky Devlin and Jack MacKenzie in the squad, while Shankland’s withdrawal – after he missed training on Tuesday – adds to an ever-growing injury list.

Captain Andy Robertson was also not at Tuesday’s training session in Glasgow, along with Scott McTominay, Kenny McLean and John Souttar.

First-choice goalkeeper Angus Gunn (ribs) and left-back Greg Taylor (calf) had already been ruled out of the double header, with 10 others unavailable for selection, including influential vice-captain John McGinn.

Scotland visit Zagreb on Saturday before hosting Portugal three days later.

Portugal lead Group A1 on six points, with Croatia and Poland both on three and Scotland yet to get off the mark.

Dani Cuesta/X

Getty Images

Getty Images

Who is Peter Lim?