Stephen Butler (born 27 January 1962 in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

) 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 striker. During his professional career he played over 400 matches and scored over 150 goals for

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

, Maidstone United,

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 ...

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

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 ...

, Gillingham and

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

Club career

Butler undertook trials for Gillingham in 1982 and 1983 but the club could not afford to buy him out of the army, where he was working as a vehicle mechanic. He then went on to play for non-league Windsor & Eton and Wokingham Town, before signing for Third Division club

along with Wokingham Town teammate (and fellow soldier) George Torrance in December 1984, with the

Griffin Park Griffin Park was a football ground in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow, England. It was the home ground of Brentford F.C. from its opening in September 1904 to August 2020. The ground is in a predominantly residential area and was ...

club paying £400 to buy the pair out of the army. After failing to hold down a first-team place at Brentford, Butler joined non-league Maidstone United, with whom he won the

Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

title and promotion to the

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

in 1989. The Kent side reached the play-offs the following season, but lost to

in the semi-finals. Following a year-spell at

, 1992 Butler signed for

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

side

for £75,000 in 1992. He was named as the club's Player of the Season for 1994–95, having scored 18 goals in al competitions. In December 1995 Butler signed for Gillingham of the Third Division for £100,000, where he remained until leaving for

for £5,000 in October 1998. Butler returned to Gillingham as a coach under

Peter Taylor Peter Taylor may refer to: Arts * Peter Taylor (writer) (1917–1994), American author, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction * Peter Taylor (film editor) (1922–1997), English film editor, winner of an Academy Award for Film Editing Politic ...

in 1999, having been offered the managerial role himself alongside

Andy Hessenthaler Andrew Hessenthaler (born 17 August 1965) is an English football manager and former player who is head of recruitment at club Gillingham. He began his career in non-league football and did not turn professional until he joined Watford at ...

. However, he would return to the playing side following injuries to key players including Carl Asaba. In 2000, at the age of 38, Butler scored a 114th minute equaliser in the

play-off final against

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

, as the

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

club secured its first ever promotion to the second tier of English football. Butler's playing career ended in non-league football after he returned to former side Maidstone United, where he also served as Director of Football.

Coaching career

Butler served as assistant manager to

, his former manager at Gillingham, during his spells at

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

and

Stevenage Borough Stevenage Football Club (known as Stevenage Borough Football Club until 2010) is a professional association football club based in the town of Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier o ...

. In June 2007 he was appointed as a first-team coach at

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2001 it had a population of about 40,000. In 2011, according to t ...

. In October 2010 he returned again to Maidstone United, serving as assistant to Andy Ford in his five month spell as manager. Butler went on to work as a coach at the Soccer Showcase Elite Training Academy.

Honours

Gillingham * Football League Second Division play-offs: 1999–2000 Maidstone United *

Football Conference The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the ...

: 1988–89 *

Kent Senior Cup The Kent Senior Cup is an English football competition played between senior clubs in the county of Kent. It is administered by the Kent County Football Association. History The Kent Badge preceded the Kent Senior Cup, and was won in its three- ...

: 1988–89, 1989–90 Individual *

Player of the Season: 1994–95 *

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 ...

: 1990–91 Fourth Division

References

Living people 1962 births Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands English men's footballers Maidstone United F.C. (1897) players Peterborough United F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Watford F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players Cambridge United F.C. players Maidstone United F.C. players Leicester City F.C. non-playing staff Men's association football forwards {{England-footy-forward-1960s-stub