Scottish Football’s Coaching Pioneers 1: John Madden

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It always seems strange that these days not only are there so few Scottish players abroad, there are also so few Scottish coaches. Especially when things weren’t always that way. Far from it.

I’m attempting to put together a show for Previously…Scotland’s History Festival that gives some recognition to the Scottish coaching pioneers who helped play a formative role in the foundation of football in countries – and at clubs – which have gone to be of major significance in the beautiful game.

If you notice any errors in this piece or have any other information to contribute to it, then please use the comments section below. I’m keen to have my knowledge of this fascinating man refined.

On the 6th of July 1929, Slavia Prague defeated Juventus 3-0 in Prague. ((http://www.slavia.webzdarma.cz/1929.html)) What’s the significance of this for Scottish football fans? The coach of Juventus that day was a Scot, William Aitken. ((Reference as above. The quoted article actually names the Juventus manager as “George Aitken” but cross-referencing confirms this to be a mistake.)) His Slavia opposite number was also a Scot and a man who was already a Slavia club legend and would go on to be widely remembered as “The father of Czech football”. ((http://encyklopedia.sme.sk/c/3832261/madden-john-william.html))

John ‘Jake’ Madden played for Gainsborough Trinity and for Celtic. In fact, he played in Celtic’s first ever match. He was known for his ferocious shot, earning him the nickname “The Rooter” – a reference to his shots being so hard that they could ‘uproot’ the goals. ((http://www.thecelticwiki.com/page/Madden,+Johnny))

Somehow, in 1905, Madden ended up in Prague and being entrusted with the job of becoming Slavia Prague’s first ever coach. Before that, any such matters had been entrusted to the team captain. There are different theories as to how Madden came to be offered the role. One version is that Madden had accompanied Celtic on their 1904 tour of Vienna & Prague. It’s certainly correct that this tour took place and that Celtic recorded a 4-1 win over Slavia Prague during it , but Madden’s playing career with Celtic had ended in 1897 and I can’t find any mention of him being involved in the tour. So this version goes, during the tour Madden met the Czech woman who would later become his wife and this helped persuade him to take up Slavia’s offer the coaching role. ((http://vecnaslavia.blog.cz/0711/historicti-treneri-slavie-madden))

Another version, recounted by the historian Billy Kay ((The Scottish World: A Journey into the Scottish Diaspora)) is that Slavia actually wanted to offer the role of coach to the former Rangers player, Jacky Robertson. Like Madden, Robertson was from Dumbarton. The theory is that Robertson assisted Madden in getting the role by via the subterfuge of dressing him in a Rangers strip for a photograph to show to Slavia. By the time the situation had been realised, Slavia would have been happy with their choice of coach anyway. Adding some substance to this version of events is the existence of an early postcard naming the Slavia coach as being “ex-Glasgow Rangers”. ((http://encyklopedia.sme.sk/c/3832261/madden-john-william.html))

As a guide, perhaps as much to the standard of Scottish football as to Czech – or rather, ‘Bohemian’ – football of the time, in 1904 Slavia had been defeated comfortably by both sides of the Old Firm. A touring Rangers had won 5-0 in Prague. In 1906, Celtic returned to Prague, coached by Madden’s old teammate and fellow Celtic legend, Willie Maley. This time Slavia drew 3-3.

Slavia and the Prague press were understandably euphoric about the result. A newspaper report of the time pointed out that it was the “well-known opinion” of Madden that Celtic were “the best team on the globe and adjacent planets”. To get a draw against them had seen Slavia “perform the miracle” and the paper was convinced that “Scottish football is a true role model for Slavia”. Concluding, the delight was summed up thus: “The 29th of May 1906 will be in the history of Slavia, double-underlined in red.” ((http://www.slavia.webzdarma.cz/1906.html))

In 1922, Celtic returned to Prague and Madden was once again pitted against Maley. This time Slavia won 3-2 and the press’ euphoria was once again clear. “Slavia has beaten the best team in the world”. ((http://www.slavia.webzdarma.cz/1922.html)) To be fair to Celtic, it’s worth pointing out that they had two players, Willie McStay and John Gilchrist, dismissed for fouls that an unhappy Maley described as “normal”. ((http://zivotopis.osobnosti.cz/johny-william-madden.php))

So what had Madden done to make such an impression on both the Slavia players and on the Prague public and press? Mention is made in many articles of the new methods that he brought to football in the region. In this country, we tend to talk disparagingly of the days when players trained without the ball. In fact, as with anything in life, there is a balance to be struck. Until the arrival of Madden, the Slavia players had trained only with the ball. Madden introduced new components to training, such as gymnastic sessions. ((http://vecnaslavia.blog.cz/0711/historicti-treneri-slavie-madden))

This attention to fitness also meant that he was noted for his physiotherapy skills. Bear in mind that even into the 80s in UK football, we had the sight of physios running onto the pitch bearing nothing more than a bucket and a sponge. In the early 1900s, Madden was treating players sprains and bruises with soap wraps, his own homemade ointments and a water-based treatment of alternating hot and cold water currents ((http://zivotopis.osobnosti.cz/johny-william-madden.php)) that came to be known in Prague as “Scottish jets” ((The Scottish World: A Journey into the Scottish Diaspora by Billy Kay)) and was also used by gymnasts and ballerinas in the city. He was known as a practitioner of the “undisputed healing arts”. ((http://www.fotbal.cz/scripts/detail.php?id=1805))

In those days, clubs on the continent tended to play mainly exhibition matches, so ‘friendlies’ held a far greater significance than they would nowadays. Football in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire was somewhat complicated by the multi-national and multi-ethnic nature of the Empire. The territory of Bohemia (roughly equivalent to the modern-day Czech Republic) had clubs playing in three different Football Federations. Clubs set up by Czechs played under the auspices of the Czech Football Association (Český svaz footballový, ČSF), clubs with Austrian players were under the Austrian Football Union (Österreichische Fussball-Union) and clubs run by Germans came under the jurisdiction of the German FA (Deutscher Fussball-Bund, DFB). ((http://www.iffhs.de/?f00b90b003e0f443e0f952bda55405fdcdc3bfcdc0aec70aeeda083c0a)) Slavia won the 1913 ČSF league title, but we have to bear in mind the restrictions involved in this league. Similarly, the club also won a 1915 wartime league championship.

A sign of how seriously Madden was being taken within Bohemia though was that in 1911 he was coach of the side that took part in one of the first continental football tournaments for international teams. The tournament may only have included three nations – England, France and Bohemia – but Great Britain’s football team had won gold at the 1908 Olympics and would go on to do so again at the 1912 Olympics. On those occasions, the GB team was selected from English amateur players, so their strength cannot be underestimated.

There are a couple of mentions to be found of Madden’s influence on the match. After the Bohemians had recovered from an England goal to go 2-1 up, the England coach apparently switched from a 2-3-5 to a 2-1-7 formation. In response, Madden withdrew two players from the attack of his 2-3-5 formation so as to bolster the defence and midfield. This would seem to point to either a 3-4-3 or 4-3-3 formation, both of which would have been ahead of their time.

In the 83rd minute, England were awarded a penalty which would have leveled the score. Madden is said to have shouted “Be calm!” to his goalkeeper, Pimmer, who went on to make the save. ((http://www.xtratime.org/forum/showthread.php?t=258112))

Another example of Madden being entrusted with national pride is at the 1920 Olympics. Billy Kay makes refers Madden also being involved with the Czechoslovakia team at the 1924 Olympics, but I can’t find any other mention of this and the coach on that occasion was named as being Jaroslav Bezecný. ((https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_at_the_1924_Summer_Olympics_–_Men’s_team_squads))

The 1920 Olympics didn’t go entirely to plan for Madden and his team. They swept past Yugoslavia (7-0), Norway (4-0) and France (4-1) on their way to the final, but it was there that things went wrong. The referee was a 65 year-old Englishman called John Lewis. I can’t find any specific mention of Madden’s reaction to the referee, but you wonder if Fergie’s rage at unfit refs was in some way channeled from his fellow Scot’s experience that day.

The Czechoslovakian side were unhappy that Lewis had been appointed as he’d already refereed the hosts’, Belgium’s, semi-final victory over their neighbours the Netherlands. There is also a story that the ref had previously been subjected to violence while refereeing a match in Prague and may have been perceived as having a bias against the Czechoslovakians as a result. ((http://www.linguasport.com/futbol/internacional/olimpiadas/1920_ANTWERPEN_GD.htm)) The Belgian team was, understandably, given a rapturous pre-match welcome by their fans and apparently their acknowledgement of it went on a little too long for the liking of the Czechoslovakians. ((http://footballcurator.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/more-than-game-how-scotland-shaped.html))

Things didn’t improve, as Belgium went 2-0 up, the first goal coming via an apparently hotly disputed penalty. At 2-0 down, Czechoslovakia were reduced to 10 men when Steiner was sent off for kicking Coppee in the stomach. Or they would have been reduced to 10 men had he agreed to leave the pitch. Eventually, Madden’s team walked off the pitch in protest at a mixture of what they believed to be incompetent refereeing and unhappiness at the atmosphere being created by a combination of a hostile crowd and the intimidating presence of so many Belgian soldiers surrounding the pitch. It’s worth remembering that during WWI, the territory that was now Czechoslovakia had been part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and hence on the opposite side from the Belgian troops who now surrounded them.

The side couldn’t be persuaded to retake the pitch and were disqualified from the tournament, not even being awarded the silver that should have been assured by reaching the final.

There was actually a strange echo of this in 1932, when Slavia reached the Mitropa Cup Final. The Mitropa (officially called La Coupe de l’Europe Centrale) was a tournament for Central European club sides. Eight clubs took part (Slavia, Sparta Prague, Admira Vienna – now Admira Wacker, Bologna, Juventus, Ferencvaros, First Vienna and Ujpest) and Slavia dispatched Admira 3-1 on aggregate in the first round (effectively a quarter-final).

This put them into the semis, where they faced Juventus. Slavia had comfortably defeated Italy’s Grand Old Lady 4-0 in Prague, but were quickly 2-0 down in the return leg in Turin. Slavia’s players apparently resorted to timewasting tactics which angered the Juve fans enough to begin throwing missiles. Slavia’s keeper, František Plánička, was hit by a stone and seriously injured. Slavia refused to play on and had to be secured in their dressing room for a number of hours while 1500 soldiers and policemen tried to manage the irate crowd. The Committee organising the tournament blamed both sides equally and expelled them, leaving the victors of the other semi, Bologna, as cup-winners by default. ((http://www.rsssf.com/tablesm/mit32.html))

Madden had officially retired from the role of trainer in 1930, on reaching the age of 65. He remained involved with Slavia until his death in 1948 though. Slavia’s eventual 1938 Mitropa Cup triumph is described by a Slavia fans website as coming about while under “the indirect leadership of Madden”. ((http://slaviasks1892.blog.cz/0810/johny-william-madden)) (beating Genoa and Juventus on the way to a 4-2 aggregate win over Ferencvaros in the final). Hence, it seems reasonable to still link the team of 1932 to his influence.

Slavia did reach the 1929 Mitropa Cup Final while under Madden’s official auspices, but unfortunately a 5-1 defeat and 2-2 draw with Ujpest saw them go down 7-3 on aggregate. Hopefully the 3-1 aggregate victory over fellow Scot Aitken’s Juventus side earlier in the tournament was of some consolation.

In 1925, Slavia won the inaugural Czechoslovakian Football League title. They also went on to win the 1928/29 and 1929/30 titles before Madden officially retired. I say officially because there are many references to be found to Madden continuing to direct training even after a stroke had left him in a wheelchair and with speech difficulties. ((http://encyklopedia.sme.sk/c/3832261/madden-john-william.html)) He’s said to have used a ‘pointer’ to get around these difficulties. The image of an elderly man for whom the club had total respect perhaps helps explain the affectionate name by which Madden was known, “Dědek” – old man/granddad.

When Madden died in Prague in 1948, he had spent 43 years in the city, surviving two World Wars. His coffin was given a guard of honour by the Slavia team of the day, clad in Slavia shirts. He’s buried in the Olšanské cemetery in Prague and the anniversary of his death is still marked by fans of Slavia laying flowers on his grave. ((The Scottish World: A Journey into the Scottish Diaspora by Billy Kay))

Let me leave you with a few notable results from Madden’s time in charge of Slavia:

1906 Slavia 3-3 Celtic

6/7/1929 Slavia 3-0 Juventus (Mitropa Cup, QF)

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About the Author

Twice runner-up in Scottish Comedian of the Year finals, Teddy was named ‘Best Up and Coming Comedian’ at the Scottish Variety Awards in 2010. He’s written for two BBC Radio 5 ‘Unsporting Reviews of the Year’, and has also worked as both writer and script editor on the BBC1 Scotland football shows ‘Offside’ & ‘Only An Excuse?’. He’s been a Rangers season-ticket holder for the past 17 years, but he’s all about the football not “all that other sh*te”. Also has a fondness for Dynamo Kyiv that can be traced back to an unhealthy obsession with Alexei Mikhailitchenko (or Oleksiy Mykhalychenko if you prefer to transliterate from the Ukrainian rather than the Russian. That’s the unhealthy obsession we’re talking about.)

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