Bobby Madden left Scottish football because he felt he'd hit a glass ceiling - with Willie Collum 's lack of progress on the international scene proving to be the final straw. That's according to former top flight ref Charlie Richmond, who told Football Scotland of Madden's reasoning for leaving the Scottish game behind.
Madden was one of the SFA's most prominent whistlers and was a regular pick for the top games in the country before he left to join the English FA in the summer. Madden took charge of a number of pressure-cooker Rangers vs Celtic clashes, as well as being picked by UEFA to to run the rule over various Europa League, Champions League and international games over the years.
He and Collum were the two big names in Scottish refereeing but Madden watched on as his colleague, seen as the main man within the SFA, was overlooked for the Euros and missed out on the knockout stages of the Champions League. According to Richmond, Madden felt something had to change - and moving to the English game would give him the chance to progress.
He said: “I managed to speak to Bobby at a night out a couple of months ago. I could sense that something wasn’t right because he wasn’t going to the UEFA referee course. He told me that he had nowhere to go in the Scottish system. It’s because Willie Collum is the main referee but he’s not progressing.
“You were always told when you joined the FIFA referee list that if you weren’t progressing for a couple of seasons then you’d be moved to the side and other people would be afforded more opportunities. Willie hasn’t been selected for the Euros, he’s not been selected for the World Cup and he’s not been selected for the Champions League latter stages because we don’t use VAR.
“As an elite referee, those are the progression points and he’s not moving up. But he’s holding that place and Bobby can’t move into it. I think that he will have sounded out a few people before making the decision to go to England.
"There could be an opportunity for him to move up, just like the Australian referee. The good thing for Bobby is that he’s VAR qualified through UEFA. He could have stayed in Scotland and covered the Old Firm games, Scottish Cup and League Cup finals but how is he ultimately progressing?”
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