It took you 3 days to come up with that? Also I don't see a denial or defence of Madden's absolutely astonishing wastefulness. Instead I see an 'others were to blame too' defence.
So, just so you might get it through your thick head, I will reiterate my position on the matter. For those who read my many posts and got my point of view (whether they agreed or disagreed) I'd suggest you give the rest a miss.
First off take 2009 out of it. The posts I made about him weren't during the 2009 season. If I had leveled criticism at him then I'd gladly respond to it. I didn't. The posts I made about his wastefulness were during the 2010 campaign. That he'd scored 4 goals out of the 62 we bagged the previous season when we won the league by 4 points is neither here nor there. He certainly wasn't the pivotal factor in that campaign. I wouldn't put him on the hook for 2010 on the basis of 4 bad games and I won't make him the messiah in 2009 for 4 goals.
Next thing. Again. As I said at the time. I don't/didn't care how old he is. How much he was getting paid or that there were older/higher paid players not doing well either. In a team that was professional I didn't care about the age or wage just end product. Like I said a million times I don't give a **** about him or his welfare. I care about Bohs. So take those factors out of the equation if you want to talk to me about this stuff.
Oh and before anyone goes 'he scored in Linfield'. I didn't rate the Setanta Cup then and I don't now. The year we won it there were 9 teams in the competition and 3 got thrown out. We won a 6 team tournament with no European bonus at the end of it. Big whoop. ****house competition. And don't even bring the hat trick against Ragball Rovers in the cup into it if you want to keep the conversation credible.
Now with all that out of the way that takes us on to what he produced in 2010.
2010 league season. Paddy Madden started 34 of 36 league games and appeared as a sub in 1 other. 35/36
He scored the 4th goal in injury time of a 4-2 away win against Drogheda in our third league game of the season. He didn't score again for another 13 games (91 days).
He then had a very good run and scored 8 in 6 games when we had quickfire fixtures against teams from the lower reaches of the league (I'll come back to this as I'm sure it's a bone of contention for some people). I didn't complain about that of course but while people were absolutely ****ing creaming themselves about him 'coming good' I maintained it was the exception and not the rule.
He then went 15 games (98 days) without scoring. When he did score again it was on the final day of the season. After missing 2 glaring chances to put us into a comfortable lead. On a night Rovers were getting held by Bray. On a night where a big win could have nabbed us the league. He fluffed his lines. Blew us the chance of early momentum and a lead and piling the pressure on the pigs. But, hey, at least he scored, right?
So what was my problem with him? He was playing in a team creating chances for him, not half chances but gift wrapped chances, week in-week out, and he couldn't stick them away. I've seen the argument on here that he was like any other striker 'some days it happened for him, some days it didn't'. I disagree. Most days it didn't happen for him despite having multiple clear cut chances in every game he played that season.
He played basically every week and had tonnes of chances to score. Yet he managed to go 3 months without scoring.
Twice.
In one season.
Jason Byrne was injured for half the season and playing injured for a quarter of the season. And he was still our top scorer with 12 ahead of Madden's 10. As for the claim 'he kept us in the title race with his goals' I say I don't agree. When the pressure came on down the stretch it was a half crippled Jason Byrne who bagged 5 goals in our last 7 games. There was no sign of Madden.
And back to who Madden got his goals against. They all count, absolutely. And a point is a point no matter who it's against. Yep I agree. Sure players have filled their boots against lower level teams but the genuinely good players always show up against the teams at the top of the table.
But for those who try to argue he was a good player for us I find it hard to accept that argument when our striker who played in 35 of 36 league games only scored 1 goal against a team that finished in the top half of the table.
The other 'argument' is that other players weren't great. Yep. That doesn't get him off the hook though. Over the course of the season plenty of players made mistakes. You can point to a missed clearance here that cost us a point. Or a shot that went wide that cost us another point. You can pick the bones out of anything. You can say Cretaro was bad. He was. You can say such and such was bad. They might have been. However they didn't play every week and miss a handful of glorious opportunities every week.
With Madden it was more clear cut. In a season when we lost the league by 2 goals on goal difference he played almost every game and had two of the most incredibly barren streaks of any striker for a top of the table team that I can ever remember. And he didn't have the excuse of not having the service provided for him. 13 games without a goal and 15 games without a goal. In a 36 game season. Playing every week and having chances laid on a plate every week.
So there you go. That was my problem with him then. He simply didn't get it done when he was playing week in-week out. If you want to argue that going 3 months without scoring twice in one season (while playing every week and having multiple chances every week) is fine then good luck to you.
You wanted to know where I had 'gone to' so there's your response.
If you have a hard on for him scoring for Yeovil good luck to you. I follow Bohs so it makes no odds to me. 100 goals for Barcelona won't change what happened that season for Bohemian F.C and that's all I ever gave a **** about.
That just about covers it. There's not a lot more I can say. Those are the facts on what he did for us in 2010. What he did/does once he's gone is of no consequence to me. It won't get us the 2010 league title we should have won no matter how many goals he scores anywhere else. If he comes back to Bohs some day and score a pile of goals and wins us a title I'll be the first to say Hallelujah and well done. Until he does something for us he's just another bloke playing in a foreign league for a team I don't care about.
You called me out. You got your answer.
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