Peter James Butler (born 27 August 1966) is an English professional
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
player and coach. As a player, he made more than 450 appearances 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 ...
and 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 ...
.
He then took up coaching, first in England and then in Australia and South-East Asia. He was in charge of the
Botswana national team from 2014 until 2017. He is currently the manager of
Liberia
Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...
.
Playing career
Butler 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 ...
for
Huddersfield Town
Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. The ...
,
Cambridge United
Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on N ...
,
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 ...
,
Southend United
Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...
,
West Ham United
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...
,
Notts County
Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...
,
Grimsby Town
Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...
,
West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...
and
Halifax Town
FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...
.
[
]
Coaching career
After a spell as caretaker manager
In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular Manager (association football), manager is dismissed or leaves for a ...
of Halifax Town, Butler moved to Australia where he became player-manager
A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...
of Sorrento FC
Sorrento Football Club, commonly known as Sorrento FC, is a Western Australian semi-professional soccer club based in the northern Perth, Western Australia suburb of Duncraig. They currently compete in the National Premier Leagues Western Aus ...
2000–2002, where he set up their academy.
He then coached in Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
with the Singapore Armed Forces Football Club
Warriors Football Club is a Singaporean professional Association football, football club that played in the Singapore Premier League, the top division of football in Singapore. Before changing their name on 20 January 2013, they were previousl ...
(SAFFC), in Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
with Sabah FA
Sabah Football Club ( ms, Kelab Bolasepak Sabah) is a football club with ownership by Sabah Football Club Sdn Bhd. The football club competes in Malaysia's football league representing the state of Sabah in Borneo. They currently compete in M ...
, in Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
with Persiba Balikpapan
Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Balikpapan, commonly known as Persiba Balikpapan, is an professional football club based in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. The club plays in Liga 2, after relegation from Liga 1 in 2017 season.
The club ...
, and then back to Malaysia as coach of Kelantan FA
Kelantan Football Club ( ms, Kelab Bola Sepak Kelantan) is a Malaysian professional football club based in Kota Bharu, Kelantan. The club plays in the Malaysia Super League, the top tier of Malaysian football since 2023.
Founded in 1946, the ...
. In September 2009, Butler signed a one-year contract as Technical Director and Head Coach of Yangon United FC
Yangon United Football Club ( my, ရန်ကုန် ယူနိုက်တက် ဘောလုံးအသင်း ) is a Burmese football club, based at Yangon United Sports Complex, in Yangon, Myanmar. Owned by Tay Za, a prominent Bur ...
of Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
. In September 2010 Butler became head coach of Thai Premier League
The Thai League 1 ( th, ไทยลีก 1), often referred to as T1, is the top level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai League 2. Seasons run from August ...
team BEC Tero Sasana F.C.
Police Tero Football Club ( th, สโมสรฟุตบอลโปลิศ-เทโร), formerly known as BEC Tero Sasana Football Club, is a Thai professional football club based in Bangkok. The club finished runners-up in the inaugural ...
He is the holder of a UEFA Pro Licence Qualification. Butler returned to Kelantan to become head coach for the second time in November 2011. He guided the team to the top of the League. However, Butler left stating he could no longer work for Annuar Musa as he was unhappy with the signing of players above his head. Butler was immediately hired by Indonesian Super league side Persiba Balikpapan whom he coached in 2006-08 and led them into the newly formed ISL. He reportedly resigned from Persiba in May 2012, but his resignation is challenged by the club.
Terengganu and T-Team
He officially took over the head coach role at Terengganu FA
Terengganu Football Club is a professional football club based in Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia, that competes in Malaysia Super League, the first division of Malaysian football league system. Nicknamed "The Turtles", the club was founded ...
, from Mat Zan Mat Aris on 1 June 2012, although he had already performed his duties as Terengganu head coach before the date. As head coach Butler reprimanded two players for returning from a night out at 3am on a morning before a match. He actions were mainly backed by the Malaysian public. However the club's management did not support his stance leading to a six-month ban, RM4,000 fine, 15 per cent cut on monthly salary and the termination of his contract.
The penalties received by Butler were considered by the public to be unjust and a means of simply removing him from the club. He was left with 15 months payment on his contract outstanding. The Football Association of Malaysia declared their intent to investigate the situation.
On 18 October, Football Association of Malaysia's disciplinary board completely exonerated Butler of any charges, quashed the suspension imposed on him and publicly condemned the Terengganu FA of bringing shame to the FAM, the TFA were ordered to pay Butler the remaining months on his contract.
Botswana
In February 2014, Butler was appointed manager of the Botswana
Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...
national team. His first International game was against South Sudan. He won the game three nil with a relatively new young inexperienced squad. He was mostly praised for giving a nineteen years old Ditsile his full debut against Burundi in the AFCON 2015 preliminaries. Botswana went on to knock out Burundi & Guinea Bisau to reach the group stages of the AFCON, with a new team giving debuts to many young players. They lost to a last minute penalty in Tunisia and gave a very strong Senegal team a fright, only losing to a late deflected goal. They have since earn credible results beating Tanzania, Lesotho and drawing against a strong Angolan team in Luanda. Butler has revitalised the Botswana team playing an exciting brand of footballconsequently coming under the radar of some of the bigger teams in African football.
When asked about Botswana in an interview
Butler said that "It's a beautiful country, and the raw passion that Botswanans have for the game is unbelievable. In fact, most of Africa has such an incredibly deep love and enthusiasm for football. You can really feel it when you spend time here."
In February 2017 he was one of a number of managers on the shortlist for the vacant Rwanda national team manager role.
Butler resigned from the Botswana job in June 2017, and within days was appointed as the new head coach of Platinum Stars
Platinum Stars was a South African football club based in Phokeng near Rustenburg, North West Province that played in the Premier Soccer League. The club was nicknamed ''Dikwena'', the Tswana name for ''Crocodiles''.
The team's best finish in ...
in South Africa's Premier Soccer League
Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier.
A premier will normally be a head of governm ...
. He departed the position in September 2017.
Liberia
On 21 August 2019, he was appointed as manager of the Liberia national football team
The Liberia national football team, nicknamed the ''Lone Stars'', represents Liberia in men's international football and is controlled by the Liberia Football Association. Although the nation produced the 1995 FIFA World Player of the Year, ...
.
References
External links
*
Peter Butler Interview
Peter Butler: International Man of Football
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Peter
1966 births
Living people
Association football midfielders
Botswana national football team managers
Bury F.C. players
Cambridge United F.C. players
English Football League players
English football managers
English footballers
Expatriate football managers in Botswana
Expatriate football managers in Malaysia
Expatriate football managers in Thailand
Expatriate soccer managers in Australia
Expatriate soccer managers in South Africa
Expatriate soccer players in Australia
Footballers from Halifax, West Yorkshire
Grimsby Town F.C. players
Halifax Town A.F.C. managers
Halifax Town A.F.C. players
Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players
Liberia national football team managers
Notts County F.C. players
Persiba Balikpapan managers
Platinum Stars F.C. managers
Peter Butler Peter or Pete Butler may refer to:
* Pete Butler (coach) (1909–1983), American football, basketball, and baseball coach and college athletics administrator
* Peter Butler (politician) (born 1951), Conservative Member of Parliament
* Peter Butler ...
Premier League players
Sabah F.C. (Malaysia) managers
Sorrento FC players
Southend United F.C. players
West Bromwich Albion F.C. players
West Ham United F.C. players