Brother to current ref Andy, the younger Madley has officiated 10 Championship fixtures already this season but hasn’t overseen a Premier League ref match since 2018, following an off-pitch controversy which cost him his job in England’s first division.
He will now referee the Brentford vs Wolves game on Saturday having gradually recovered his career.
As Madley explained in a post entitled ‘Time to Move On…’ on his blog The Referee’s Word back in December 2019, he was dismissed from his duties after he made a “dark-humoured joke” directed at someone with a walking impairment via social media the year prior.
The 37-year-old from Wakefield was attending his daughter’s sports day not long after a Sun headline from former ref Mark Halsey cruelly dubbed him ‘Blobby Bobby’, leading him to make a self-deprecating albeit admittedly inappropriate joke.
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Madley went on to record a short video of the disabled individual on Snapchat, quipping: “F**k me I have a chance of winning the parents’ race this year.”
The controversial caption was overlayed on a six-second clip and despite intending to save it for private use, ultimately decided to send it to someone he “trusted” and had shared a close relationship with for more than 10 years.
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After an argument with the same person, the video was then sent ‘anonymously’ to his manager and following a disciplinary meeting with the Professional Game Match Official Limited (PGMOL), he was sacked and went on to relocate to Norway, where he continued to referee games.
Madley refereed 91 Premier League matches between 2013-2018 and hundreds of others throughout the footballing pyramid, dozens of which were held across Greater Manchester since beginning his career at the age of 16.
Madley has always maintained that the PGMOL dealt with the incident in “the strongest way” and that he respects their decision, insisting that he never intended to mock disability, especially given that his own father was disabled.
He concluded his 2019 statement by saying: “Please don’t think bad of me. I’m a human being who made one mistake, one that many many people have done themselves and not lost everything for. Again, I have to pick those pieces up.”
Featured Image — Preston North End FC (via Twitter)
Sport
Details released of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners while Mayor
Emily Sergeant
Details of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners during his tenure as Mayor of Greater Manchester have been released.
In case you need bringing up to speed on the situation a little first, Manchester City was found guilty back in September all of its charges related to the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period, and on top of that, was also found guilty of the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the League’s investigation.
According to the Premier League, the independent Commission found that Manchester City had arranged so-called ‘sham’ commercial deals with a number of its sponsors.
These were part of a disguised funding scheme – with those sponsors only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees.
The remainder was then funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club.
The Commission also concluded, as quoted by the Premier League, that the club had ‘made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the Premier League investigation’.
Within the past week or so, it has since come to light that now-Prime Minister Andy Burnham had dealings with Manchester City during his tenure as Greater Manchester Mayor, and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has now issued a public statement, giving details on the matter and what these ‘dealings’ entailed.
A spokesperson for GMCA confirmed that Burnham had a ‘formal meeting’ with Man City Chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, back in October 2021.
The statement reads in full: “In October 2021, Andy Burnham, in his role as Mayor of Greater Manchester, had a formal meeting with Khaldoon Al Mubarak at the UK Government’s Global Investment Summit arranged by the Department for International Trade.
“In his capacity as Mayor, he was a guest of Manchester City FC at home matches on a small number of occasions, including attending Vincent Kompany’s testimonial match in September 2019, where he met the Chairman informally in the stands. These have been declared in the usual way.
“Also during his time as Mayor, representatives of Greater Manchester sporting clubs would routinely join business delegations as part of Mayoral international visits.
“This included representatives from Manchester United travelling to Austin and Dublin, Lancashire Cricket Club joining a delegation to India, and Manchester City FC staff supporting visits to China and Japan.”
Featured Image – Lauren Hurley / Number 10 Downing Street (Press Image via Flickr)
Sport
Multiple arrests made for ‘tragedy chanting’ and police officer assault as Man City defeated Liverpool
Emily Sergeant
Multiple people were arrested over the weekend as Manchester City defeated Liverpool in a Premier League clash.
Merseyside Police have confirmed that a total of 10 people were arrested during the policing operation at Liverpool’s home ground of Anfield as they hosted Manchester City on Sunday 11 October.
One man was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police constable, five were on suspicion of tragedy chanting, one on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly, two for affray, and one on suspicion of throwing items onto the pitch.
Police are now appealing to the public, and are particularly looking to speak to witnesses of the assault of the officer.
At around 6:35pm, as fans left the stadium, a police officer sustained a ‘serious facial injury’ during the arrest of a man on Anfield Road, and was subsequently taken to hospital for treatment but is now recovering at home.
Investigating officers are now conducting enquiries, speaking to witnesses, and analysing CCTV and camera phone footage.
Chief Inspector Leanne Hobin said it’s ‘extremely disappointing’ that an officer has sustained a serious injury while carrying out their duty.
“I hope the arrests send a clear message and act as a deterrent to others,” Chief Inspector Hobin continued. “Anyone who engages in this abhorrent behaviour risks ending up in custody and getting a criminal record.
“Despite the actions of a few, the overwhelming majority of the 60,000 fans in attendance behaved well and I want to thank them for their co-operation.”
Manchester City ended up defeated Liverpool 3-0 during the Premier League clash at Anfield.
Danny Jones -
26th October 2022 
