West Ham recently completed their first transfer signing of the summer, with goalkeeper Darren Randolph joining on a free transfer from Championship outfit Birmingham City. The 28-year-old shot stopper will officially make the move to Upton Park on July 1st, but in the meantime let’s get to know our brand new lad a little bit better.
Young Lad
Being 6ft 1 in height and wanting to be a footballer, playing in between the sticks was the perfect fit for him as a young man. Having joined Charlton Athletic as a teenager, Randolph then signed professionally for them in 2004. During a six year period, he made just sixteen appearances for the first team with lots of ups and downs. He made his Addicks debut in a Premier League match against Liverpool on the final day of the 2007 Premier League season, and impressed in a 2-2 result at Anfield.
Learning Lad
Following on from this, he went on several loan spells up and down the country before being recalled a couple of years later and went straight on the team sheet for a game against Southampton. It was a game to forget for him however as he contributed to an embarrassing own goal, in which he jumped to catch a cross but instead dropped the ball, which fumbled in Charlton’s own net.
Naughty Lad
Randolph’s final loan spell was at lower league Hereford United, where he enjoyed some consistent first team football. This included a top performance at Elland Road against Leeds, where he conceded just one goal from nineteen shots on target. Later on in the 2008 season though, he refused to play in an FA Cup tie against Dagenham and Redbridge. This was because there was speculation that Hereford was going to sign another goalkeeper, which they did a day later. He was consequentially fined two weeks wages and was recalled to The Valley by Alan Pardew as a result. His relationship with Rochelle from The Saturdays also ended in the months that followed.
Professional Lad
In 2010, Randolph joined Scottish top tier side Motherwell on a free deal as he was out of contract in South London. Signing for three years, he made his debut in the Europa League and kept a clean sheet in the process, which bodes well for West Ham’s European hopes in 2015/16. The club were later eliminated in a match which saw Randolph pelted with cigarette lighters by Danish fans.
Experienced Lad
In addition to this in his debut season, he established himself as the first choice goalkeeper at Fir Park and broke the club record for number of clean sheets (beating John Ruddy). One of these clean sheets was in a win against Celtic, but they lost to them after reaching the Scottish Cup final. 2011/12 saw European football once again, this time in the Champions League, as well as being the only Motherwell player featuring in the Scottish Team of the Season. Randolph recorded one assist in this campaign. This was followed up with a consecutive Team of the Season membership in 2012/13, and a 2nd place finish in the league.
Our Lad
Birmingham City then signed the Republic of Ireland man in the summer of 2013. He has played in all but one of the Championship fixtures between the day he signed for them, and present day. Now, he joins West Ham United and will provide some good competition for number one Spaniard Adrian. Randolph is more than capable of coming into the starting line-up, and with two international caps (including one against Spain), he has the big game experience to come in and do his bit for the team. A great signing to say the least.
