Barry Butler (30 July 1934 – 9 April 1966) was an English professional
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...
who spent most of his career at
Norwich City. He is remembered by his teammates and supporters as an inspirational captain and outstanding defensive player.
Butler, who played for Norwich until his death in a car crash in 1966, was often referred to as one of the best defenders in the league by opponents and is regarded as one of Norwich's greatest ever players.
Butler also played for
Sheffield Wednesday.
Early life
Butler was educated at Richard Hind secondary school in his hometown of Stockton. Whilst there he captained both the football and cricket teams.
Upon leaving school Butler took a job as an apprentice electrical fitter at
ICI in nearby
Billingham where he played in the works football team. He played for various minor clubs whilst at ICI including
Northern League Northern League may refer to:
Sport
Baseball
* Northern League (baseball, 1902–71), a name used by several minor leagues that operated in the upper midwestern U.S. and Manitoba from 1902 to 1971
* Northern League (baseball, 1993–2010), an indep ...
side South Bank.
Sheffield Wednesday
Butler joined Sheffield Wednesday as a teenager in September 1952 with the
Hillsborough
Hillsborough may refer to:
Australia
*Hillsborough, New South Wales, a suburb of Lake Macquarie
Canada
*Hillsborough, New Brunswick
*Hillsborough Parish, New Brunswick
* Hillsborough, Nova Scotia, in Inverness County
*Hillsborough (electoral d ...
club paying South Bank £300 for his services.
After working his way up the ranks in the "A" team and reserves he finally made his first team debut for the Owls on 2 January 1954 at the age of 19. Butler replaced the injured
Cyril Turton in a
Division One
The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...
game at home to
Burnley; the game finished as a 2–0 win for Wednesday.
The match would be the start of a 19 consecutive game run in the first team for Butler, a sequence that ended in the 4–1 loss at home to
Huddersfield Town on 3 April.
The run included eight
FA Cup games as the Owls reached the semi-finals, eventually being beaten 2–0 by
Preston North End
Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...
at
Maine Road.
He made several appearances the following season, but the increased competition caused by the signing of
Don McEvoy in December 1954 spelled the end of his Wednesday career.
Butler played just three more games in a Wednesday shirt – the final one as a centre-forward – before he was relegated to the reserves for the remaining two years of his time at Hillsborough. He played a total of 36 games for the club, scoring once in a 2–1 loss away to
Blackpool
Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...
on 19 February 1955.
Norwich City
Norwich manager
Archie Macaulay paid Sheffield Wednesday a transfer fee of £5,000 for Butler in August 1957,
just after he had finished his service in the
RAF. He immediately made an impression and established himself as an essential member of the side. In the
1958–59 season, he was a member of the Norwich team that embarked on one of the most famous
FA Cup runs of all time. A
Third Division
In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below.
Association football
*Belgian Thir ...
side at the time, they reached the semi-finals, defeating, among others,
First Division sides
Tottenham Hotspur and
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
along the way and narrowly lost the semi-final in a replay at St Andrews against
Luton Town. The following season, Butler played in every match of the campaign as City won promotion to the
Second Division. Two years later, he was a key member of the Norwich team that won the
League Cup for the first time, as they beat
Rochdale 4–0 in a two-legged final. At the time Butler was considered to be the best
uncapped centre-half in the country.
In 1963, Butler was appointed team captain when
Ron Ashman
Ronald George Ashman (19 May 1926 – 21 June 2004) was an English professional footballer and football manager. Born in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, he spent his entire playing career with Norwich City and was later their manager. He went on t ...
relinquished his playing duties to take up the job of managing the team on a permanent basis. Around the same time he earned his FA coaching badge, and later he was awarded the role of player-coach for the
1966–67 season.
He played a total of 349 matches for the club including a consecutive run of 208 games which was only broken because of his appearance in an FA XI side.
Death
Butler would never take up his position as player-coach. On 9 April 1966, Butler was killed in a car crash at the age of 31, his car having collided with a bus late at night.
His funeral was held at
St Peter Mancroft church in
Norwich.
Legacy
The year after his death, the
Norwich City player of the year
The Norwich City Player of the Season award is voted for annually by Norwich City's supporters, in recognition of the best overall performance by an individual player throughout the football season. As a mark of respect, the trophy is named The B ...
award was named ''The Barry Butler Memorial Trophy'' in his honour, and has been voted for by the supporters every year since then.
In 2002, when the club held an on-pitch reunion of former players prior to a match against
Harwich & Parkeston
Harwich & Parkeston Football Club is an English football club based in Harwich, Essex. The club are currently members of the and play at the Royal Oak ground.
History
The club was established in 1877, and reached their first cup final in 1891, ...
to mark the club's centenary, Butler's widow attended to represent him. His son David also attended a Hall of Fame dinner at
Carrow Road
Carrow Road is an association football stadium located in Norwich, Norfolk, England, and is the home of EFL Championship side Norwich City. The stadium is located toward the east of the city, near Norwich railway station and the River Wensum.
N ...
in January 2004.
Butler's teammate
Bill Punton described him as "...probably the best centre-half who has ever played for the club...On the field he was a leader, a real leader. He was the man who kept the team going all the time."
References
*''Canary Citizens'' by Mark Davage, John Eastwood, Kevin Platt, published by Jarrold Publishing, (2001),
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Barry
1934 births
1966 deaths
Footballers from Stockton-on-Tees
English men's footballers
Men's association football defenders
South Bank F.C. players
Norwich City F.C. players
Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players
Northern Football League players
English Football League players
Road incident deaths in England