Paul John Butler (''né'' Roberts; (born 2 November 1972) is a former 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 ...

where he played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. Born in England, he played for

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

. He was most recently a player at

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side Chester City, where he also had spells as captain and assistant-manager. He has previously played in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

for

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

and

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 ...

, and was also a former captain of

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

Club career

Butler was born, in Moston, Manchester and began his professional career at

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

in 1991 and remained with the club for five seasons before joining

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

. Here, he won promotion to the second flight in his first season. After one season in the second flight with Bury, he moved to

for £1 million and won the First Division championship in his first season. He featured through a full season in the

in 1999–2000. However, he found himself often left out of Sunderland's first team during the following season. To gain playing time, First Division

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; plural, : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been reco ...

took him on loan in late 2000, a move made permanent by incoming manager Dave Jones for £1 million in January 2001. He was made club captain for the following season which saw the team mount an automatic promotion challenge, only to fall away in the final weeks into the play-offs, where they lost to

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

. The next year saw Butler win a second promotion to the top flight though, as the club won the play-offs, beating

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

3–0 in the 2003 final. He remained with the club for their solitary season in the

but could not agree terms of a new contract afterward and instead joined fellow-relegated side

in July 2004. He was a first choice centre-back during manager

Kevin Blackwell Kevin Patrick Blackwell (born 21 December 1958) is an English former professional football goalkeeper who since retiring as a player has worked as a coach and a manager. He is currently the manager of Thai League 1 club Nakhon Ratchasima. Ea ...

's reign and was made captain shortly after signing. Leeds first season was one of consolidating, the following season The 2005–06 season saw the club almost regain their place in the top division but they lost the

play-off final The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

. After some poor performances, loss of fitness and the sacking of manager

, new manager

Dennis Wise Dennis Frank Wise (born 16 December 1966) is an English former professional football player and manager who played as a central midfielder. He is the president of Serie B side Como 1907. He is best known for having spent the majority of his c ...

decided to strip Butler of the captaincy after a fall out, and he was told he was free to leave

Elland Road Elland Road is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the home of Premier League club Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the 14th largest football stadium in England. The g ...

on loan until January then on a free transfer. He duly moved on loan to

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...

in November 2006. After returning to his parent club, he was released from his contract with Leeds leaving under poor terms with

, and two days later signed a permanent contract with the Dons. Butler failed to complete the season with the MK Dons though, leaving in March 2007 after only nine further appearances. He joined Chester City four months later and quickly struck up a strong central defensive partnership with Paul Linwood, later combining playing duties with a role on the coaching staff. But he was to rarely feature after April 2008, he fell out with Chester's manager after a poor performance against his former club

in the League Cup where Butler was substituted at half time, He never played for the club again and on 1 February 2009 he agreed a deal to leave Chester and become a free agent as he continued working towards completing his coaching qualifications.

International career

Butler made his only appearance for the

(for whom he is often incorrectly stated as having qualified via his Irish wife, when he in fact qualified through his step-father's father who was from Dublin), in a friendly against the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

on 23 February 2000. He was pitted against the big Czech striker

Jan Koller Jan Koller (; born 30 March 1973) is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was noted for his height, strong physique, and heading ability. He began his career at Sparta Prague, then moved to Belgium, where he becam ...

, but by half-time Ireland were 2–0 down thanks to two Koller goals. Butler was substituted at half-time and Ireland went on to win the game 3–2. Butler's international career is generally referred to in derisive terms by Irish supporters and he is often nominated in fans "worst ever Ireland XI's".

Personal life

In September 2010, Butler was arrested for allegedly assaulting a fellow guest at a charity event at Mere Golf Club in Cheshire. Butler pleaded guilty to the assault charges in May 2011 and was sentenced to 120 hours community service.

Honours

Bury *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

: 1996–97 Sunderland *

Football League First Division 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 ...

: 1998–99 Wolverhampton Wanderers *

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

: 1998–99 First Division

References

External links