12th May – Darren Randolph

Birmingham City stayed in the Championship with a last gasp equaliser against Bolton Wanderers and one of their players might not have expected to be a Championship player the next time his birthday rolled around.

Goalkeeper Darren Randolph turns 27 today and has been one of the few consistent players Birmingham have had this season with him appearing in every single league game. It cannot have been easy for him as the club brought in a lot of loan players and the defenders in front of him kept changing. But Randolph knows what it is like being a young player and having to go out on loan to play first team football so he would have been able to give these players some good advice.

Randolph first played for Ardmore Rovers before joining Charlton Athletic in 2003 and it wasn’t long before he was going out loan as he joined Welling United in 2004 and played four times for the club. At the beginning of the 2004-05 season he was back out on loan again, this time to Accrington Stanley who played him 14 times in the league and at the end of the season he had impressed enough to earn a contract extension at his parent club.

In August 2006 he went out on loan again to Gillingham for a month and on his return he finally made his Charlton debut against Liverpool where he performed well. Manager Alan Pardew said of his performance. “The professionalism Darren shows in training as back up was evident. You can’t put a performance like that in without a lot of hard work that no one ever sees.”

After more loan spells away from the club (Bury and Hereford United) he eventually left permanently and joined Scottish side Motherwell. He proved what a fantastic goalkeeper he was straight away and broke John Ruddy’s club record of 15 clean sheets in a season in his first year and helped them reach the Scottish Cup Final. The next season he also performed well and made some crucial saves, and gained recognition by being named in the PFA Scotland Team of the Year. With Rangers unable to compete in European football it meant that Randolph got to taste Champions League football and although it ended in defeat it would still have been a great occasion for him.

Motherwell continued their fine form into the next season and finished in second place behind Celtic and Randolph was once again named in the team of the year which meant that, with his contract expiring in the summer, a lot of clubs would be looking at him. His manager at the time Stuart McCall said: “Darren has been outstanding for us and if I was managing in the Championship now I would go for him straight away.”

Although McCall wouldn’t have wanted him to leave, he knew it would be difficult to keep hold of him and Birmingham City were the team to sign him. The club struggled in the season just finished but he will be hoping for better things next time around.

The final word can go to Stuart McCall. “He is not only an outstanding goalkeeper, he is a really good guy, he is composed, he gets about his job and he never lets us down.”

27th April – Walter Pandiani

Uruguayans have been hit and miss in the Premier League, there have been some like Luis Suarez and then others that had a lot of quality but did not quite cut it like Diego Forlan.

Unfortunately ‘El Rifle’ fits more into the second category. Walter Pandiani had two spells at Birmingham City while they were in the Premier League and it seemed like they had signed one of the best finishers in Europe at the time. After playing for Progreso, Basanez and Penarol in his home country he made the move to Spain to play for Deportivo La Coruna. Although he was never a regular starter he had a phenomenal record and scored a lot of goals off the bench. In between the years of 2000 and 2005 he played 86 league games for the club and scored 31 goals including 13 in the 2003-04 season. During his time at the club he went out on loan to Mallorca and scored 13 goals in 33 games for them and was getting a growing reputation of someone that knew where the back of the net was.

After several run ins with Deportivo coach Javier Irureta he made his move to Birmingham City initially on loan. It did not take him long to show off his talents as he scored on his debut in a 2-1 win over Southampton. Manager Steve Bruce said after the game: “Walter Pandiani arrived yesterday with no boots, and he doesn’t speak a word of English, but he’ll give us a lift.” In his next 13 appearances he managed three goals and this led to Birmingham signing him permanently for £3 million.

However he failed to show the form of his loan spell and only half a season later he was sold to Espanyol for £1 million. He played 31 times in the league for Birmingham scoring only six goals. His first full season at new club Espanyol was interesting as he only scored seven league goals but this included a first half hatrick away to Real Madrid. Although he struggled domestically everything he touched in the UEFA Cup seemed to go in as he ended the campaign as the top scorer in the competition with 11 goals. The club lost in the final on penalties against Spanish rivals Sevilla.

Pandiani then left the club for Osasuna where he was hardly used in his first season at the club but in his second season he ended it as their top scorer. He played a key role in a victory over Real Madrid in which he was involved in a verbal spat with Cristiano Ronaldo. Pandiani saying about the Portuguese player. “As a footballer he is a phenomenon but to do the things he does, maybe he has a screw loose.”

After leaving Osasuna he rejoined Espanyol but this was only for one season which he spent mostly on the bench but he did manage to grab late winner against Getafe and Real Betis. In 2012 he joined Villarreal and on his debut he scored the winning goal and followed this up the next week by scoring the winner again. However these were the only two goals he scored in the league.

At his next club Atletico Baleares he started in a game alongside his son with Pandiani Senior scoring in a 2-1 defeat. In October 2013 they both joined Uruguayan club Miramar Misiones where they still play.

The last word can go to former Birmingham City co owner David Sullivan just after selling the player: “Walter is not a bad player and he did well recently against Manchester United and Chelsea. You’ve got to take your hat off to his commitment towards the club, he scored important goals