Daniel James Butterworth (born 14 September 1999) is 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 plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for club

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

. A former

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 ...

trainee, Butterworth joined Blackburn Rovers and went on to make his senior debut for the club in August 2018. He spent the second half of the 2021–22 season on loan at

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed in ...

and joined

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

on loan for the 2022–23 campaign. He joined Carlisle United on a free transfer in July 2023.

Career

Blackburn Rovers

Born in Manchester, Butterworth began his career with the club he supported,

, before he joined Blackburn Rovers on a scholarship midway through the 2015–16 season. He turned professional upon signing a two-year contract in October 2017 after he scored 16 goals in 36 appearances for

Damien Johnson Damien Michael Johnson (born 18 November 1978) is a Northern Irish football coach and former international player. Sincce 2019 he has been first team technical coach & head of player development at Blackburn Rovers. He began his career with P ...

's development squad. He made his senior debut at

Ewood Park Ewood Park () is a football stadium in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and the home of Blackburn Rovers F.C., founding members of the Football League and Premier League, who have played there since 1890. It is an all seater multi-sports facili ...

on 28 August 2018, coming on as a 72nd-minute substitute for

Danny Graham Daniel Graham (born 1978) is an American football player. Daniel Graham may also refer to: *Bob Graham (born 1936), Daniel Robert Graham, American politician *Daniel O. Graham (1926–1995), American general and political activist *Danny Graham ( ...

in a 4–1 victory over Lincoln City in the

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

. He signed a new long-term deal in March the following year, keeping him at the club until June 2022. He made his Championship debut on 22 April, playing the last 14 minutes of a 1–0 home win over

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

. He featured just once in the next two seasons, playing as a substitute in a 1–0 defeat at

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

on 19 December 2020.

Manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Tony Mowbray said that Butterworth "will burst onto the scene in the next year and everyone is going to think ‘wow, who’s that?'" He made his first start in the English Football League on 19 October 2021, in a 1–0 defeat at Queens Park Rangers. On 31 January 2022, he joined League One side

on loan for the remainder of the 2021–22 season. He scored his first goal in senior football in a 3–2 defeat at Burton Albion on 12 March, scoring with his first touch after entering the game as a substitute. He made five starts and seven substitute appearances for

Stephen Crainey Stephen Daniel Crainey (born 22 June 1981) is a Scottish former professional footballer. He is currently U21 manager for Wigan Athletic. A left back, he made 319 appearances in the Premier League and Football League, including 214 for Blackpool. ...

's "Cod Army", helping Fleetwood to retain their third tier status with a 20th-place finish. On 1 September 2022, Butterworth joined League One side

on loan for the

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season. Manager

Darrell Clarke Darrell James Clarke (born 16 December 1977) is an English professional football manager and former player who played in the English Football League. He is the manager of club Port Vale. A box-to-box midfielder, Clarke began his career with ...

compared him to the club's number nine, James Wilson, for his link up play. On 29 October, he scored his first goal for the club to secure a 1–0 victory over Lincoln City at Vale Park. He scored his second league goal of the campaign on 19 November, the club website describing how he "produced a beautiful second half solo goal" to beat Charlton Athletic 1–0. Butterworth said after the game that "this is the best I have felt in a long time". He was released by Blackburn Rovers at the end of his contract after seven years with the club.

Carlisle United

On 14 July 2023, Butterworth joined newly-

promoted Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

League One side

on a free transfer, signing a two-year deal.

Style of play

Butterworth has stated that he likes playing as a number 10, playing alongside a

target man Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

and getting into pockets of space. He is able to shoot with both feet. Speaking in November 2022, Port Vale assistant manager Andy Crosby said that "Dan has incredible talent in possession; he can create chances, he can score, he can play the final

pass Pass, PASS, The Pass or Passed may refer to: Places *Pass, County Meath, a townland in Ireland * Pass, Poland, a village in Poland *Pass, an alternate term for a number of straits: see List of straits *Mountain pass, a lower place in a mountai ...

", though added that he needed to improve other aspects of his game.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butterworth, Daniel 1999 births Living people Footballers from Manchester English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Fleetwood Town F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players English Football League players