Darren Randolph has clearly been reading from 'The Stephen Hunt Book Of Preparation'.
In 2014, Hunt wrote that GAA players would find it tough to cope with the physical demands of being a Premier League player. The Waterford native even revealed the extremes he went to, to make sure he was as rested as possible before matches.
When I was at Reading, I lived half a mile from the training ground. Each day, I would get in my car, which was of the required status for a Premier League footballer, and drive 800 yards to the training ground.
I wasn't being flash, I just felt I had to rest. My life was dedicated to rest and then more rest. I would never go out and when I say 'go out', I don't mean a night out, I mean out. I never left the house. All I did was train and rest, train and rest.
Randolph is enjoying life on Teeside, after moving to The Championship giants this summer from West Ham. Although joining the club last month, he is still living at a hotel adjacent to the club's training ground half-an-hour outside Middlesbrough.
Speaking to Michael Walker in The Irish Times ahead of Middlesbrough's game with Nottingham Forest, Darren Randolph jokingly revealed he is taking the car to training, despite the short journey from the adjacent parkland hotel.
Must be a nice walk in the morning?
“Yeah, it’s different to London, it’s a change, but a good change,” Randolph begins, casually. “I’m staying over there in the hotel. It’s nice, a one-minute walk to training, even though I take my car.”
Pardon?
Randolph is now chuckling. “Yeah, I did that this morning, I drove across. Because. I’m. Lazy.”
What? But it’s only about 30 yards away?
“I did! Of course! It’s cold up here. Some mornings it’s been raining. And I don’t like the cold.”
Is it really that cold in Middlesbrough in July and August?
Then again, if it works for Darren Randolph and Stephen Hunt, who are we to argue with them?
