There was a race to see who could get out the door first
“I heard about Joe Hart coming in at the end of last season, I went away on holiday and then came back to Ireland for the Austria game. It was clear he was going to sign and that there was a race to see who could get out the door first.”
“It was made clear that he was going to play so when it’s put to you as bluntly as it was [by Bilic] there was no point in me staying.”
With West Ham still needing a back-up goalkeeper, Randolph made sure it was him leaving ahead of his Spanish team-mate Adrian and joined newly-relegated Championship outfit Middlesbrough on a four-year deal in July.
“I wanted to be playing games so I had to get out,” he adds. “I just think with the situation we were in they weren’t going to let both of us go.”