Isaiah Rankin

Football player infobox
playername = Isaiah Rankin


fullname = Isaiah Marcus Rankin
nickname =
height = height|ft=5|in=10
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1978|5|22
cityofbirth = London
countryofbirth = England
currentclub = Crawley Town
clubnumber =
position = Forward/Winger
years = 1996–1998
1997
1998–2001
2000
2000
2001–2004
2004
2004
2004–2006
2006–2008
2007
2008
2008–
clubs = Arsenal
→ Colchester United (loan)
Bradford City
→ Birmingham City (loan)
→ Bolton Wanderers (loan)
Barnsley
→ Grimsby Town (loan)
Grimsby Town
Brentford
Grimsby Town
→ Macclesfield Town (loan)
Stevenage Borough
Crawley Town
caps(goals) = 01 0(0)
11 0(5)
37 0(4)
13 0(4)
16 0(2)
46 0(8)
06 0(2)
06 0(2)
78 (15)
37 0(2)
04 0(0)
06 0(0)
03 0(0)
nationalyears =
nationalteam =
nationalcaps(goals) =
pcupdate = 20:49, 23 July 2008 (UTC)
ntupdate =

Isaiah Marcus Rankin (born 22 May 1978 in London) is an English professional footballer who plays for Crawley Town in the Conference National. Rankin is a pacy, powerful striker who can also play on the right wing if needed.

Career

Rankin started his career playing for Arsenal as a youngster, however after making only one appearance for The Gunners and a brief loan spell with Colchester United, Arsene Wenger let the young forward leave Highbury.

Rankin was signed by Bradford City for £1.3 million. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said he sold Rankin "Because he had in front of him too many players who were in to play in the top team. He was impatient. I thought that he wouldn't naturally make it this season, and he needed some first-team games. He was one of the players where, if you keep him, he drops; if he drops, his value goes down and he isn't happy and he hasn't improved. If you are sure he won't play for you this season, you give him a chance to make a career somewhere else, I'm happy for him." [ The professor Arsene Wenger by Myles Palmer page 135] Rankin helped Bradford earn promotion to the Premiership in 1999, though not always a regular with the club, Rankin was held in high regard at Valley Parade.Fact|date=June 2008 Following the installation of such players like Stan Collymore at Bradford, Rankin was farmed out on loan to Birmingham City and then Bolton Wanderers, before finally leaving the club permanently to join Yorkshire rivals Barnsley.

Rankin enjoyed a steady three seasons at Oakwell but lost his place in the squad midway through the 2003–04 season. Following a fallout with manager Gudjon Thordarson , Rankin was lined up with a transfer out of the club.Fact|date=June 2008 Barnsley put in a £50,000 bid for Grimsby Town F.C. striker Michael Boulding as well as offering The Mariners, Isaiah on a one-month loan deal.

The transfer went ahead, and Rankin got off to a flying start with Grimsby, netting two goals in his first six games. However in a match against Barnsley at Blundell Park, Rankin scored a goal in a 6–1 demolition for Grimsby, but controversially upset Tykes boss Gudjon Thordarson for what he called an unprofessional goal celebration.Fact|date=June 2008 With this Thordarason commented that Rankin would never play for Barnsley again, and the player had his contract terminated with immediate effect, which allowed him to sign for Grimsby on a permanent basis until the end of the season. [cite news
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/barnsley/3567593.stm
title=Mariners seal Rankin deal
date=2004-03-25
accessdate=2008-06-29
publisher=BBC Sport]

Grimsby appointed Nicky Law as manager but he could not prevent the club's relegation, despite Rankin scoring in a 1–0 win against Brentford on the second to last game of the season. Out of contract at Grimsby, Brentford came in for the striker, and snapped him up on a two-year deal. Isaiah continued his good performances for The Bees and his goal against Southampton in the 2004–05 FA Cup Fifth Round was nominated on Match of the Day's 'Goal of the Month' competition, but did not win the top prize.

Rankin was released by Brentford in April 2006 and returned to Grimsby Town. With goalscoring partner Michael Reddy injured, and Rankin struggling with fitness problems,Fact|date=June 2008 they only managed three goals between them all season, all of them by Rankin. Graham Rodger was sacked as manager and Alan Buckley came in to take his place. With the loan signing of Martin Paterson, Rankin was deemed surplus to requirementsFact|date=June 2008 and in March 2007 was loaned out to Macclesfield Town for the remainder of the season. [cite news
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/macclesfield_town/6481075.stm
title=Rankin joins Macclesfield on loan
publisher=BBC Sport
date=2007-03-22
accessdate=2008-06-30] He made only four appearances and failed to score.

Rankin stayed on for a final season with Grimsby in 2007–08, but his contract was terminated by mutual consent during in the January 2008 transfer window. [cite web
url=http://www.grimsby-townfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10417~1230525,00.html
title=Rankin departs
publisher=Grimsby Town F.C.
date=2008-01-31
accessdate=2008-06-30] He joined Conference club Stevenage Borough on a short-term deal, [cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/stevenage/7221260.stm
title=Stevenage complete triple signing
publisher=BBC Sport
date=2008-02-01
accessdate=2008-06-30] and was one of several players released at the end of the season. [cite web |url=http://www.stevenageborofc.com/index_news_det.php?news_id=651
title=Borough release 5
publisher=Stevenage Borough F.C.
date=2008-05-05
accessdate=2008-06-30]

The player signed a deal with Crawley in July 2008 having featured in a number of pre-season friendlies whilst on trial with the West Sussex club. [ [http://www.crawleytownfc.net/newsdetails.php?ID=787 "Rankin signs for Crawley"] crawleytownfc.net 2008-07-23. Retrieved on 2008-07-23]

References

External links

*soccerbase|10491|Isaiah Rankin
* [http://www.codalmighty.com/site/ca.php?page=0708/profiles/isaiah_rankin Profile of Isaiah Rankin] at codalmighty.com