ONE OF PADDY Madden’s beloved mini Dachshunds is named “Hank”, after the sinister alter ego of Jim Carrey’s schizophrenic character in the film Me, Myself and Irene.
The Fleetwood Town striker wanted to name the other one “Charlie”, in honour of the placid, well-rounded part of Carrey’s psyche in the cult classic.
Madden’s partner, Jasmine, had other ideas, insisting on “Hattie”, so he wasn’t going to win that battle.
The 29-year-old knows he must pick and choose his causes, and he is also aware that to continue to thrive – and survive – in professional football, he needs to be Hank in the dressing room and Charlie on the pitch.
“Football dressing rooms are probably the most ruthless place you can be,” Madden feels. “If you take things to heart you are probably in the wrong game.
“Everyone wants the same thing in the dressing room, to win and the team be successful. And every player wants to be in the team. We will rip the piss out of each other but you have to be able to hack that. The manager wants us all pulling in the same direction.”
In the space of 30 candid minutes, Madden, with 10 League One goals so far this season, also explains how meditation and mindfulness have given him a greater perspective of the game, allowing him to remain calm where it matters most for a striker: in the box.
You have to open your mind to other ideas. I suppose people would say it’s meditation… yeah, that’s what it is. When I was younger, I would have probably said I don’t believe in any of that shite but you have to open your mind to other ideas and try to improve your game in ways you might not have thought about before.
“So I like to sit quietly by myself and imagine how things might pan out in a game, where a ball could drop in the box and how I would react. I plan out a celebration in my head, how I would feel and what it will be like to score. It makes it more of a routine,” the Dubliner explains.
“Obviously it doesn’t work every time, it just lets me settle down, it puts me at ease more. It’s about having a positive mindset, it’s about having that belief in yourself and your ability. Every Friday at the end of training I will grab some balls and practice, I’ll fire balls into the net to get used to that feeling, just to see it happen so it becomes routine.”
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These are the two sides of a “Hank and Charlie” footballer.
Madden and Fleetwood Town manager Joey Barton. Twitter / Paddy MaddenTwitter / Paddy Madden / Paddy Madden
At the same time, the former Bohemians frontman was willing to provide just a snapshot of what it’s like inside that “ruthless” Fleetwood dressing room. It has been assembled by manager Joey Barton and recently garnered more attention than would necessarily be the case for a side sitting in eighth place in the third tier of English football.
This week, it was revealed by sports website The Athletic that Fleetwood have played 66 first-team matches over the past 15 months with only one non-white player being used by the club.
Of the 23 players to take part in League One, FA Cup and EFL Cup action this season, all have been white.
“It’s not something that has crossed our minds,” Madden says. “There have been black guys who have come up from the youth team [17-year-old James Hill] and been involved. This is just the squad we have to work with. I don’t think there can be anything more to it, there shouldn’t be any more to it.
“You want to have the best squad of players to be successful because every player wants to win, and the manager has this squad to deal with. The colour of a player’s skin shouldn’t come into it.”
Fleetwood are not a club with a storied history in English football, but their recent successes are admirable. They’ve secured six promotions since 2005, going from the ninth tier in the North West Counties League to just a couple of steps away from the Premier League.
That feels like another world for a club which, when you Google it, is third on the list behind a band and a brand of paint.
Madden continues to etch his name into lore of the superbly nicknamed Cod Army, so much so that his 30 league goals since joining in January 2018 place him third on their all-time league charts, just 11 behind the leader. Madden even took the plunge this summer and bought a house nearby.
You can’t settle anywhere in football because you don’t know how long you will be in one place for. You might love it at a club but a manager gets sacked and the new one might want to get rid of you.
“You could lose form and be out of the team, but we still decided to buy a house this time so if I was having a stinker this season I could be fucked and have to sell.”
Madden hasn’t been a regular starter for Barton – despite signing a new three-year deal on improved terms during the summer – but his form means he has the best goal-to-minute ratio in the division, finding the net every 73.6 minutes.
Making his senior debut for Ireland against Wales in August 2013. Donall Farmer / INPHO
Donall Farmer / INPHO / INPHO
In December, he also reached the 100-goal mark in English football – coming across previous spells with Carlisle United, Yeovil Town, Scunthorpe United – and for a brief period in 2013, while a Championship player with Yeovil, it appeared he might become a regular in the Republic of Ireland set-up under Giovanni Trapattoni.
Madden earned his solitary cap in a friendly with Wales before getting the call for World Cup qualifiers with Sweden and Austria. A medial knee ligament injury suffered in a training session with his club meant he had to withdraw, a turn of events which still rankle.
“I never should have gone in for the tackle, I didn’t need to, it was a five-a-side game at the end of the session, and you know what it’s like, your competitive side kicks in. It was stupid because I thought it could have been my chance to get my foot in the door properly with Ireland.
“I missed chances in that Wales game that I still think about because I know I could have done much better, but I trust my own ability to score goals. I always will. I believe I can score goals when I get the chance.
“It’s like anything you do in your life, you have to have confidence. You have to believe in yourself when maybe there are others who don’t.”
You have to be a Hank and a Charlie.
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'When I was younger, I would've probably said I don’t believe in that s***e but you have to open your mind'
ONE OF PADDY Madden’s beloved mini Dachshunds is named “Hank”, after the sinister alter ego of Jim Carrey’s schizophrenic character in the film Me, Myself and Irene.
The Fleetwood Town striker wanted to name the other one “Charlie”, in honour of the placid, well-rounded part of Carrey’s psyche in the cult classic.
Madden’s partner, Jasmine, had other ideas, insisting on “Hattie”, so he wasn’t going to win that battle.
The 29-year-old knows he must pick and choose his causes, and he is also aware that to continue to thrive – and survive – in professional football, he needs to be Hank in the dressing room and Charlie on the pitch.
“Football dressing rooms are probably the most ruthless place you can be,” Madden feels. “If you take things to heart you are probably in the wrong game.
“Everyone wants the same thing in the dressing room, to win and the team be successful. And every player wants to be in the team. We will rip the piss out of each other but you have to be able to hack that. The manager wants us all pulling in the same direction.”
In the space of 30 candid minutes, Madden, with 10 League One goals so far this season, also explains how meditation and mindfulness have given him a greater perspective of the game, allowing him to remain calm where it matters most for a striker: in the box.
“So I like to sit quietly by myself and imagine how things might pan out in a game, where a ball could drop in the box and how I would react. I plan out a celebration in my head, how I would feel and what it will be like to score. It makes it more of a routine,” the Dubliner explains.
“Obviously it doesn’t work every time, it just lets me settle down, it puts me at ease more. It’s about having a positive mindset, it’s about having that belief in yourself and your ability. Every Friday at the end of training I will grab some balls and practice, I’ll fire balls into the net to get used to that feeling, just to see it happen so it becomes routine.”
These are the two sides of a “Hank and Charlie” footballer.
At the same time, the former Bohemians frontman was willing to provide just a snapshot of what it’s like inside that “ruthless” Fleetwood dressing room. It has been assembled by manager Joey Barton and recently garnered more attention than would necessarily be the case for a side sitting in eighth place in the third tier of English football.
This week, it was revealed by sports website The Athletic that Fleetwood have played 66 first-team matches over the past 15 months with only one non-white player being used by the club.
Of the 23 players to take part in League One, FA Cup and EFL Cup action this season, all have been white.
“It’s not something that has crossed our minds,” Madden says. “There have been black guys who have come up from the youth team [17-year-old James Hill] and been involved. This is just the squad we have to work with. I don’t think there can be anything more to it, there shouldn’t be any more to it.
“You want to have the best squad of players to be successful because every player wants to win, and the manager has this squad to deal with. The colour of a player’s skin shouldn’t come into it.”
Fleetwood are not a club with a storied history in English football, but their recent successes are admirable. They’ve secured six promotions since 2005, going from the ninth tier in the North West Counties League to just a couple of steps away from the Premier League.
That feels like another world for a club which, when you Google it, is third on the list behind a band and a brand of paint.
Madden continues to etch his name into lore of the superbly nicknamed Cod Army, so much so that his 30 league goals since joining in January 2018 place him third on their all-time league charts, just 11 behind the leader. Madden even took the plunge this summer and bought a house nearby.
“You could lose form and be out of the team, but we still decided to buy a house this time so if I was having a stinker this season I could be fucked and have to sell.”
Madden hasn’t been a regular starter for Barton – despite signing a new three-year deal on improved terms during the summer – but his form means he has the best goal-to-minute ratio in the division, finding the net every 73.6 minutes.
In December, he also reached the 100-goal mark in English football – coming across previous spells with Carlisle United, Yeovil Town, Scunthorpe United – and for a brief period in 2013, while a Championship player with Yeovil, it appeared he might become a regular in the Republic of Ireland set-up under Giovanni Trapattoni.
Madden earned his solitary cap in a friendly with Wales before getting the call for World Cup qualifiers with Sweden and Austria. A medial knee ligament injury suffered in a training session with his club meant he had to withdraw, a turn of events which still rankle.
“I never should have gone in for the tackle, I didn’t need to, it was a five-a-side game at the end of the session, and you know what it’s like, your competitive side kicks in. It was stupid because I thought it could have been my chance to get my foot in the door properly with Ireland.
“I missed chances in that Wales game that I still think about because I know I could have done much better, but I trust my own ability to score goals. I always will. I believe I can score goals when I get the chance.
“It’s like anything you do in your life, you have to have confidence. You have to believe in yourself when maybe there are others who don’t.”
You have to be a Hank and a Charlie.
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Hank and Charlie Interview Irish Eye Joey Barton Paddy Madden Fleetwood Town