Bobby Madden quits Scottish football

Bobby Madden has quit refereeing in Scotland to take up an as yet unannounced job with the FA in England. 

Last season the East Kilbride based referee took charge of six of Celtic’s first 24 SPFL matches including the highly controversial opener at Tynecastle where Liel Abada had a ‘goal’ disallowed and Andy Halliday escaped any punishment for a brutal attack on Callum McGregor. Halliday and Madden have appeared together on the Open Goal podcast. 

Last weekend Madden stepped down from international matches on account of his age, now he won’t be in charge of any more domestic Scottish fixtures. 

This afternoon the SFA announced: 

Category One referee Bobby Madden has announced his resignation from the Scottish FA after nearly 20 years as a match official in Scotland.   

The experienced referee will be relocating to England for professional reasons and will continue officiating under the auspices of the FA.   

Bobby became a FIFA referee in 2010 and has taken charge of Scottish Cup and League Cup finals across a career which has seen him appointed to more than 1,000 matches in Scotland. 

Madden added: 

I would like to thank the Scottish FA for their support over the years – from my first match as a young referee to various derby matches and international appointments.  

It’s been some journey in that time, from Scottish Cup finals to refereeing and training during a pandemic, but the time is right for me for a number of reasons to relocate and as a result I’m grateful for the opportunity with the FA. 

Madden’s last Celtic match was the Scottish Cup semi-final defeat in April where a number of baffling decisions went against Celtic, many involving John Lundstram. 

His loss will be felt by the SFA leaving Willie Collum and John Beaton as their leading officials with Nick Walsh, Kevin Clancy and Steven McLean the only others to have handled a Glasgow derby. 

Scottish referees are part-time but well rewarded for all matches that they take part in which is topped up by UEFA and FIFA appointments. 

English referees have a full career structure with a fixed salary plus bonuses dependent on the number of matches handled. It is hard to see English referees being happy with effectively a foreign official coming into their game which might mean an admin role or VAR position in England.