Paddy Madden once scored a wonder goal at Wembley after he accidentally ran over teammate Dan Burn – strange but true.
Now he's at the wheel of Stockport County's return to the Football League fairways after 11 years in the long rough, one of football's feelgood stories of the year.
Nine years on, top Hatter Madden can laugh about the unfortunate manoeuvre that left defensive tower Burn's foot under the front wheel of his car on the countdown to Yeovil Town's shock League One play-off final win against Brentford. But for the 6ft 7in centre-back who became a £13million rock in big-spending Newcastle United's revival last season, it nearly ended in tyres.
“I had only recently passed my driving test and, as you do, you offer your team-mates a lift after training,” said Madden, who is just two goals short of 200 in club football either side of the Irish Sea. “Unfortunately, I didn't notice the door was still open. Dan is a big lad and there was a lot of him to fold into the passenger seat, but I thought he was safely on board and started to reverse out of the parking space.
“Next thing I heard was an angry yell, 'You've just driven over my foot!' - and I was lucky there was no damage done, apart from maybe a tyre mark on one of his trainers.
"Thankfully he was able to play at Wembley and we both scored to help Yeovil win promotion to the Championship. It's one of those stories where you can laugh about it now, but it could have turned out a lot worse.
“Dan's a nice, humble lad, and he's been a terrific signing for Newcastle – their results last season improved from the moment he walked through the door. He's gone on to have a fantastic career.”
As we assume the position and a new campaign kicks off before most people have even been on their summer holidays, 32-year-old Madden's prolific career is one of the game's great anomalies.
Good enough to win a Republic of Ireland cap on Giovanni Trapattoni's watch, he has played nearly 500 games in English football – but only nine of them above the lower divisions. Watch his supreme finish in that 2013 play-off final for Yeovil, an instinctive hit with the outside of his foot into the top corner, and you wonder why he has not appeared on the pyramid's upper steps more often.
Madden certainly raised eyebrows when he dipped into the National League to help Stockport bring the good times back to Edgeley Park, but it has proved an inspired move by player and club alike. To date, he has delivered 32 goals in 64 appearances, and the place will be rocking for Saturday's return to the mainstream against Barrow.
Owner Mark Stott, who wrote off £7.7 million of debt owed to him last month, has restored pride to a club once drowning in neglect, and manager Dave Challinor – promoted into the EFL two years running with Hartlepool and the Hatters – has surfed the wave like a Hawaii bodyboarder.
Madden said: “Sometimes in football, maybe you have to take a step back in order to move forward again and come back stronger. I think that's what has happened at Stockport. When we beat Halifax to win promotion back to the EFL, you could feel the pain of 11 years lifting.
“And when I came here from Fleetwood, some people thought I had lost a bit of hunger if I was dropping two divisions, but I never thought of it as a backward step. This is a club on the way up.
"Our first game back in the League will be a celebration for the fans, but as players we want to make a statement and show we are equipped to challenge for back-to-back promotions if we approach it the right way.
“In my career, I've scored most of my goals in League One and that's a level I definitely feel we can reach again at Stockport. When I first came over to England from Dublin as a schoolboy at 16 or 17, I trained here and had trials with a couple of teams. Nothing went through in the end, but I remember coming here to a game against Rochdale and the atmosphere was fantastic.
“I always looked out for Stockport's results after that, and when the opportunity came around to sign for them last year, I knew the owner was taking them in the right direction and I couldn't resist. Now we're back in the EFL, let the fans have a party for sure – but let's show we mean business, too.”
