Paul Madeley
Footballer known as Mr Versatile who played for Leeds United in every position except goalkeeper
PAUL MADELEY, who has died aged 73, was a hugely versatile footballer who played in every position apart from goalkeeper during Leeds United’s rise to domestic dominance in the 1960s and 1970s. Don Revie, who took Leeds from the Second Division to the summit of English club football, described Madeley as his “Rolls-royce”, adding: “When Paul quits it will be like losing 10 players.” In 1972, when the team made a record to mark their appearance in the FA Cup final, the lyric included the line “The 11 Pauls are never far away.”
Elegant and economical in style, Madeley made his debut for Leeds as a defender, but when they took their first major honour, the League Cup, in 1968, he played up front in the final at Wembley against Arsenal. The following season, his skills as a defensive midfielder allowed the combative duo of Billy Bremner and Johnny Giles to run rampant as the team won their first League title.
One of Madeley’s greatest displays was in the first leg of the European Cup semi-final against Barcelona at Elland Road in 1975, when he kept the mighty Johan Cruyff in his pocket for 90 minutes as Leeds won 2-1, going on to draw the second leg in Spain to reach the final.
Madeley – “Ed” to his teammates, “Mr Versatile” to journalists – made more than 700 appearances for the club, scoring 34 goals, and was the classic model professional: “He never drank, he never smoked, he said very little and he looked after himself perfectly,” said his teammate Mick Jones, with whom he always shared a room on Leeds United’s travels.
In his autobiography, Jimmy Armfield, who managed the club following the disastrous 44-day reign of Revie’s successor, Brian Clough, recalled contract negotiations with Madeley. Armfield suggested a figure for the player’s new salary, but Madeley “replied that he had no intention of leaving Leeds so he might as well sign the contract and let me fill in the details”.
Armfield asked if he wanted a two-year or three-year deal. “Either way, I’ll leave it to you,” Madeley told him. “I just want to play for Leeds.”
Paul Edward Madeley was a Leeds boy, born in the suburb of Beeston, a not far from United’s Elland Road ground, on September 20 1944. He attended Parkside School in the city, playing in both the rugby and football teams. He also played football for a junior side, Middleton Parkside, alongside his future Leeds teammate, Paul Reaney, and another future England international, Kevin Hector.
Then, after half a season with Farsley Celtic in the Yorkshire League, Madeley joined Leeds as a youth-team player in 1962. He made his senior debut in 1964 as the team were beginning their ascent. They finished top of the Second Division that season, and were twice runners-up in the First Division before winning their first League title in 1969.
The previous year Madeley had played in midfield as Leeds won the Inter-cities Fairs Cup (forerunner of the Uefa Cup and Europa League), beating Ferencvaros of Hungary in the two-legged final. They repeated the feat in 1971, Madeley playing up front as Juventus were seen off.
In 1972 Leeds met Arsenal again at Wembley, this time in the FA Cup final. Madeley was at left-back in a scrappy game won 1-0 by Leeds. That victory qualified them to play in the following season’s European Cup-winners Cup, and Leeds reached the final, Madeley playing in midfield as AC Milan won 1-0 in a match dogged by questionable refereeing decisions; in 2009, the Leeds MEP Richard Corbett petitioned Uefa, European football’s governing body, to have the result reversed.
After their first League title in 1969, Leeds were runners-up three more times before taking their second title in 1974. The following year Madeley was at centre-back alongside Norman Hunter as Leeds lost to Bayern Munich in the European Cup final in Paris in circumstances that remain controversial to this day – at least to Leeds fans, who believe that more dodgy refereeing was to blame.
In 1973 Sir Alf Ramsey was sacked as England manager following the team’s failure to qualify for the World Cup, and to Leeds players’ consternation Revie was named as his successor. They reacted with horror when Brian Clough was brought in to Elland Road, not least when he lined the players up on his first day and told them to throw all their medals in the bin, as they had won them by cheating. Six weeks into his tenure, matters came to a head in a meeting between the team and the board: it was Madeley’s quietly spoken verdict that Clough was “no good” that sealed his fate.
Madeley also played 24 times for England, usually at full-back. In the run-up to the 1970 World Cup, when Reaney was forced out of the England squad with a late injury, Madeley turned down Ramsey’s request to replace him. He was unlikely to get a game, he argued, and in any case he had a family holiday booked.
It was said by some observers that Madeley’s refusal counted against him, and that he might have played more for England had he chosen otherwise. But Ramsey appeared not to have held the decision against him, giving Madeley his first cap the following year against Northern Ireland.
It was his misfortune, however, to become an England international at a time when they failed to reach two World Cups in succession, and he played in the 1-1 draw against Poland at Wembley that ruled them out of the 1974 tournament and led to Ramsey’s sacking. When Revie replaced Ramsey, Madeley became a regular in the England side. Always modest and self-effacing, he turned down Revie’s offer of the captaincy in 1975, and won his last cap in 1977 against Holland.
He retired in 1980, going on to work in his family’s DIY business, which developed into a chain of 13 shops which was sold for £27million in 1987. There was talk when Leeds United began to suffer financial woes in the 1990s that Madeley would come to the rescue, but he insisted that reports of his personal wealth had been exaggerated – the £27 million had had to be shared among the family and other shareholders.
He suffered from ill-health in later years, including a mild heart attack; in 1992 he had a brain tumour removed, and in 2004 he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, becoming president of a Parkinson’s Disease society. In 2003 he collaborated on a biography, the proceeds of which were donated to the National Heart Research Fund.
He is survived by his wife Ann and their sons, Jason and Nick.
Paul Madeley, born September 20 1944, died July 23 2018