Ranger guilty of assaults

But he was cleared of two counts of actual bodily harm on two members of the public.

Ranger, 21, was on a night out in Newcastle city centre with his cousin on 27 August last year.

At about 2am he was approached by a group of white males and a confrontation ensued which resulted in Ranger punching two of them.

But Newcastle Crown Court heard that the footballer had been the victim of racial taunts and that his actions were in self-defence.

He fled the scene but, when police tried to detain him, he twice pushed them away, causing minor injuries.

He was given a 12-month conditional discharge and told to pay £750 ($1,176) to each officer.

The court heard that the charges of actual bodily harm were dropped because, on review of the CCTV footage, Ranger was shown to have been acting in self-defence.

After enhancing the images, the footage showed that one of the males attempted to hit the player first.

Judge John Evans said: "The picture that the court is presented with is very different to that which was first contemplated.

"The prosecution have had the opportunity of considering the CCTV footage and it shows a different picture to what was first understood.

"I cannot know what happened that night, only those involved know that.

"After the confrontation, you delivered two pushes to the police officers, who suffered limited injuries.

"It has been going on now for a year and I accept during that time you will have attracted quite a deal of publicity that may well have impacted your life."

The judge said that, provided Ranger stayed out of trouble for the next 12 months, he would hear no more of it.