It took English fans just five minutes to realise that Bobby Madden was far away from his comfort zone as he made his EFL debut.Â
After years surrounded by friendly faces like Andy Halliday, Kenny Miller, Neil McCann and others that know what a great lad he is the former van driver found himself surrounded by 19,000 passionate fans as Doncaster travelled to Bradford on day one of the League Two campaign.Â
Former Jambo Jamie Walker of Bradford was the only player previously known to Madden with the other journeymen players at that level uninterested in the Instagram following of the celebrity referee.Â
5 minutes into the refereeing career in England of Bobby Madden.
I would have recorded more but the stewards wouldn’t allow it HAHA #bcafc pic.twitter.com/fKqWUGEBkR
— Connor H (@connorh1707) July 30, 2022
After just eight minutes Emmanuel Osadebe was on the receiving end of a horror tackle from Liam Ravenhill. A double leg break has been diagnosed, play was stopped for eight minutes with Madden deciding that it was worth a yellow card! Soon after Doncaster boss Gary McSheffrey decided to substitute Ravenhill.Â
Discussing the injury to Osadebe, Hughes told the Yorkshire Post:Â
It’s not good news. It could very well be a double break so, if that’s the case, there is an issue with ligaments as well.Â
He’s going to be out for a significant amount of time and our thoughts are with him.Â
It’s a new club and he’d been playing exceptionally well in pre-season and was looking forward to the season like we all were.Â
To have it cut short like that is really emotional for everybody. You saw the reaction of the players – some were really affected by it.Â
Madden did send off Doncaster’s Lee Tomlin at the end of the extended first half, after the final whistle Bradford’s Kian Harratt was red carded as fans, players and managers in the fourth tier of English football discovered what passes for a top referee in Scotland.Â
Last season Madden was in charge of six of Celtic’s first 26 SPFL matches, apparently Ian Bankier was deeply concerned but opted to do and say nothing.
Donny red card #bcafc ?? pic.twitter.com/6eXDkqEEyA
— Matty Parkinson (@Mattyp45) July 30, 2022
hhhhhhhhhh