Irish goalkeeper Darren Randolph was bound to be up for today's game against Manchester United in the FA Cup, as it afforded him a rare start ahead of Euro 2016. Post-game, Slaven Bilic revealed that Randolph's nickname is analogous with such irrepressible enthusiasm.
Yep, it's Randy.
Bilic mentions it twice in his post-game interview, and it begins around the 1.14 mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDiWQBXRDCc
Marvellous. The incident to which Bilic refers to is an apparent foul by Bastian Schweinsteiger on Randolph in the build-up to United's equaliser:
It was definitely a foul by Schweinsteiger, and we don't think it is going too far to assume the incident shows Schweinsteiger is still bitter from Randolph's setting up Shane Long in Dublin last October.
Now that Randolph's nickname has been divulged, we expect it to provide inspiration for quite a number of flags at Euro 2016. The only thing we are surprised about is that Randolph wasn't capped earlier by Ireland, under a different manager. Perhaps Steve Staunton. Or Stan. Stan. STAAAAAN!
