BUTLER BIDS TO SERVE UP TREAT
DONCASTER Rovers left an indelible impression on a young Andy Butler – and now, firing his hometown club to promotion would mean the world to him.
Grant McCann’s entertaining side are in the thick of League One’s play-off battle, albeit having endured a six-game winless run heading into yesterday’s clash with table-topping Luton.
Steadfast centre-half Butler, at 35, has been a rock in defence and is nearing 40 appearances for the campaign.
The Doncaster native has seen his club come a long way since their Conference days and, despite having featured for Rovers for the 200th time earlier this season, he still gets a kick out of realising a childhood dream.
Dream
“I used to come and watch them,” said Butler. “We used to get tickets at my old school, used to get them for a penny a ticket at Belle Vue when Rovers were in the Conference. “I used to go down on a Tuesday night or a Saturday afternoon. We used to sing songson the terraces but I never really, really got into football until later on.
“Doncaster also didn’t have a training ground at the time, so they used to come to our school field and we’d watch them out the window – it’s all a bit surreal playing for them now.”
Having been deemed not good enough for Doncaster’s youth teams, Butler instead came through at Scunthorpe, where he won League One in the 2006-07 season and played alongside current Donny assistant manager Cliff Byrne, leaving just as his current boss McCann joined the playing ranks.
Spells at Huddersfield, Walsall and Sheffield United followed, until he became the local boy done good.
Butler said: “I never thought it would come about, coming to Donny. I thought my time had come and gone but I always checked the results.
“But then, when things didn’t happen for me at Sheffield United, Donny came in with a loan move. It certainly saves you a lot in petrol money playing down the road!
“My family and friends come to most games, really. I’m the one who’s always asking for more tickets off the club, more car parking spaces – they’re probably getting bored of me!
“And you do get fans walking up to you and saying how proud they are this season.”
Proud
As a supporter, Butler has witnessed plenty of big days in Donny’s history, chief among them the League One play-off final victory over Leeds in 2008 that got them back into the second tier for the first time in half a century.
Now the South Yorkshire outfit are eager to return after a five-year absence, which included a season in the EFL basement.
Butler added: “It would be incredible to be part of the team that got promoted to the Championship. The town would buzz off it.
“We have got a good fanbase and they are starting to come back as we’ve improved in the league.
“It would be incredible if we can get there. It’s just going to take a massive push for these last games.
“I’m not getting any younger and my career’s coming towards an end, so to be part of something that successful would be amazing.”