500 Dennis Butler

Biography

London-born left full-back Dennis Butler joined the Tigers in June 1963, a £10,000 fee was paid to Chelsea for his services. Butler slotted straight into the City first team at the start of the 1963/64 season and missed only four matches in his first season at Boothferry Park. An orthodox left back who was hard working and tough in the tackle, Butler was not a scorer of goals – he never notched throughout his thirteen year career in which he made 459 senior appearances – but was a solid presence at the base of City’s defence as the Tigers assembled a squad capable of winning promotion to Division Two. Dennis missed a two month chunk of the 1964/65 season with Brian Garvey deputising, but he was a regular first team presence in the successful 1965/66 season that saw City lift the Division Three title, missing only ten of 55 matches in all competitions. City also reached the FA Cup Quarter Final that season only to lose out to Dennis’s former club Chelsea.

Promotion to Division Two didn’t trouble Butler who missed only one of 46 matches during the 1966/67 season, consistency that continued into much of the next season. But at the start of the 1968/69 season Butler was replaced at left back by newly signed Scotsman Don Beardsley and Dennis spent most of the season filling in for others at right back. Butler did win back the left back shirt in April 1969 and retained it at the start of the 1969/70 season but by October 1969 Beardsley was restored to the first eleven and Dennis was again sidelined. He left the Tigers for pastures new in December 1969.

Dennis Michael Butler was born in the leafy West London suburb of Parsons Green and represented the Surrey FA Boys team as a teenager, winning the Home Counties championship in 1958. Butler joined the groundstaff and youth team setup at Division One side Chelsea in the 1959 close season and developed alongside future England stars Peter Bonetti and Terry Venables, indeed by the end of the 1959/60 season Butler and Venables were both playing for London’s representative youth team.

Butler made his Blues’ debut at just eighteen years old, in a November 1961 Division One match against Manchester City, and by February 1962 he was Chelsea’s first team regular in either full back position as the Blues slumped to the foot of the table and prepared for a season in Division Two. Chelsea bounced straight back with promotion at the end of the 1962/63 season, but Butler was mostly consigned to Football Combination action with the Reserves and made only two starts all season as youngster Ken Shellito and experienced Scotsman Eddie McCreadie laid regular claim to the full back berths. With Chelsea heading back to the top flight and looking to strengthen their squad, Butler was the subject of fevered transfer speculation in the closing weeks of the season involving several possible suitors. In the end they cashed in to the tune of £10,000 when Dennis signed for Hull City in June 1963 – he made a total of 18 senior starts for the Blues.

In December 1969 Butler left the Tigers returned south and dropped down a division, signing for Division Three side Reading for a £10,000 fee. He made his debut for the Biscuitmen against Stockport County in December 1969 and was first choice left back for the remainder of the 1969/70 season. Indeed he was a first choice for much of the next four seasons as Reading were relegated to Division Four at the end of the 1970/71 season, then battled in vain to regain their Division Three status for the next three seasons. In May 1974 the financial constraints placed on Reading, and passed down to Butler, meant he was better off ending his professional football career and beginning a painting and decorating business in Tilehurst near Reading. Dennis made 195 appearances for Reading.

Alongside his new trade Butler joined Southern League side Margate in July 1974 and was a regular for the Kent side in the 1974/75 season, scoring his only goal for the club in August 1974 against Gravesend & Northfleet. He made only four starts for Margate at the beginning of the 1975/76 season before clashes between work and football commitments meant he hung up his boots – he made 47 appearances for Margate and scored one goal. Butler then continued to work as a decorator in the Berkshire area for many years.

Dennis Butler was evidently a popular name in football during the 1970s – in some texts City’s Dennis Michael Butler is listed as having been Port Vale’s manager in the 1978/79 season (that was actually Cheshire-born Dennis Anthony Butler) while a Dennis G Butler plied his part-time trade up front for local Berkshire side Newbury during the late 1970s and was occasionally mistaken in the press for the former Tiger.

Details

Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 7 March 1943, Parsons Green
Hull City First Game: 24 August 1963, Watford A (Division Three), 20 years, 170 days old
Hull City Final Game: 15 November 1969, Middlesbrough A (Division Two), 26 years, 253 days old

Clubs

Chelsea (1959-1963), Hull City (1963-1969), Reading (1969-1974), Margate (1974-1975)

Hull City Record

Career: 246 apps, 0 goals