Paul John Butler (born 9 June 1964) is an English former

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 played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'The ...

and

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

Career

Butler was born in

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees, often simply referred to as Stockton, is a market town in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, England. It is on the northern banks of the River Tees, part of the Teesside built-up area. The town had an estimated ...

, and began his career at

as an apprentice. He made his senior debut for the club on 28 August 1982 as a substitute in a 2–1 win over

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

, the first of ten appearances during the 1982–83 season. After making just three substitute appearances in the top flight, he was loaned to

in the second half of the 1983–84 season to gain playing time. He returned to Wolves first team contention during the next season, playing 21 times and scoring his only two goals for the club. However, he returned to Hereford on a permanent basis before the end of the season. He finished his league career with a season at

in 1987–88 before moving into

non-league football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

with Brandon United for the 1988–89 season.

References

External links

* 1964 births Living people Footballers from Stockton-on-Tees English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players English Football League players Brandon United F.C. players {{england-footy-midfielder-1960s-stub