Andy Carroll has revealed in his new autobiography that he once drove at 50mph down a motorway with Nile Ranger standing on the bonnet of his car. The pair became friends at Newcastle in 2008, but Ranger's behaviour during a trip to Leeds tested their bond.
Night out in Leeds ends in dispute
Ranger, now playing for Whyteleafe in the Isthmian League Premier Division, was still new at Newcastle when he invited Carroll on a night out in Leeds. Carroll accepted, travelling to Yorkshire with Ranger and a friend. The evening passed without incident, but trouble began the next morning when Carroll, now player-assistant manager at Dagenham and Redbridge, wanted to head home.
Writing in his book 'Owning It', Carroll described how a disagreement over seating led to an unusual solution. Ranger refused to give up the front passenger seat after his friend called "shotgun", so Carroll drove off with Ranger on the car bonnet.
Police stop the pair on the motorway
"The problems only started the following morning after we'd checked out of our hotel," Carroll 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."
No charges and a lesson learned
Despite the dangerous situation, neither player was arrested or booked. Ranger even challenged the police officer, demanding his badge number after being threatened with arrest.
Carroll said he learned to "never, ever go out with this lunatic again." Ranger later left Newcastle for Swindon Town in 2013 and is now set to face former Arsenal prospect Jay Emmanuel-Thomas in a charity boxing match this month.
