How arch-critic Andy Madley became one of Premier League top referees

The Huddersfield-born official is now one of the top referees in the country and, before the outbreak of the coronavirus, was the man in the middle for Premier League and Championship games on a weekly basis.

He took charge of his first top-flight fixture in 2018 and was promoted to the Select Group 1 Referees list prior to the start of the 2019/20 season.

Madley’s brother, Bobby, was a Premier League referee up until 2018 but was sacked by the Professional Game Match Officials Limited for sending a video mocking a disabled person to a friend.

When he was progressing through the leagues, Madley admits he was rarely compared with his younger brother, who is set to become a National List referee again next campaign.

“I would not have been doing refereeing without Bobby,” said Madley.

“When we started progressing through the levels and I was driving home and maybe feeling I had made a mistake or felt I hadn’t done something right, Bobby was the person I would always speak to.

“We were both on the Football League together and then Bobby moved on to the Premier League.

“We would speak after every game about what happened.

“Rarely did we turn up and have spectators or players say, ‘I hope you are better than your brother.’ We were never really compared.”

The Madley brothers were both aspiring footballers as teenagers, with Bobby playing in the academies at Leeds and Barnsley while Andy was in Huddersfield Town’s school of excellence.

“I was one of the worst players with referees, I would always walk away and mutter something under my breath but I would always make it loud enough for the referee to hear,” revealed Madley. “I was always getting cautioned for stuff like that when I was playing Under-16, Under-17 level.

“Bobby and I both played at reasonable levels. He played at Leeds and Barnsley in their academies and I was in Huddersfield’s school of excellence.

“We just got to the stage where we were both falling out of love with football. Bobby had an injury that was recurring so he was ready to pack it in at the age of 16.

“But he rang me up one night asking if I fancied doing a refereeing course and I put the phone down on him. I thought about it and then asked him what it involved and it was only £15, and one night a week for a few hours.

“I started to pick up all these things, I knew nothing about football looking back.

“The first two years of refereeing, I hated. I used to come home and throw my bag in the corner and say I am not doing that again.”

Working his way through the lower divisions, Madley had no linesman and was largely left on his own but it was when he made the step up to higher levels of non-league that he started to fall in love with officiating.

He continued: “I was going to finish at the end of one season but then got invited to be an assistant referee in the North Counties East League.

“I thought I would give it a go, you are working in teams of three and I wasn’t on my own any more.

“I remember going to Yorkshire Amateur in Leeds. There is music playing before the game, turnstiles ticking round and you have got a programme with your name in it. Albeit there are 50 people there but there is an element of, ‘I have made it, this is brilliant.’

“That is where I got the love of it from, I really enjoyed it once I was able to work as part of a team.”

Madley is “itching” to get back to work but insists he and his colleagues will not rush back too quickly as football edges closer to a return.

EFL clubs were given the green light on Wednesday to resume training on May 25 while top-flight leagues across Europe have pencilled in dates for a return.

He added: “I have got one of the best jobs in the world. I get to walk out with the match ball in front of thousands of people on a Premier League matchday with all these outstanding talents who are on the pitch.

“It is something we can’t wait to get back to, we are itching to get back. As a group one thing we know is we have got a responsibility to make sure we don’t go back too quickly.”

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