Biography
Aston Villa reserve goalkeeper Lee Butler spent a month on loan with the Tigers in March 1991, starting four league games. Terry Dolan had recently taken over as City manager from Stan Ternent and used a string of loan goalkeepers in the early months of his tenure while his first choice permanent netminder, Iain Hesford, was unavailable.
Lee Simon Butler was born in Sheffield and came into football during his late teens when he played for Harworth Colliery Institute, a North East Counties League side located south of Doncaster. In October 1985 Butler’s impressive form in the non-leagues, coupled with a successful trial match, encouraged Lincoln City to sign him on amateur terms. In February 1986 Lee began a month on loan at Northern Premier League side Matlock Town and in June 1986 he signed his first professional contract for the Sincil Bank side.
Butler made his senior debut for Lincoln City in September 1986 against Cambridge United and remained in the first eleven for the next two months before being replaced by senior keeper Trevor Swinburne in November 1986. In January 1987 Lee joined Conference National side Boston United on a month’s loan and made five appearances, when he returned to Lincoln in February 1987 he was thrust back into the first team and ended the 1986/87 season with 32 appearances for Lincoln City. Lincoln were relegated to the Conference National League in May 1987 and Butler, one of Lincoln’s most saleable assets, began looking for pastures new.
In August 1987 a £100,000 fee was sufficient to encourage Lincoln to sell Butler to Division Two side Aston Villa, who were managed by former Imps boss Graham Taylor. He plied his trade mostly in the Villa Reserves as the first team won promotion to Division One at the end of the 1987/88 season and made his senior debut in a November 1988 6-0 tonking of local rivals Birmingham City in a Full Members’ Cup tie. He made his top flight debut in February 1989 against Everton but was unable to win a regular first team berth – he had made 7 senior appearances in three and a half years when he joined Hull City on loan in March 1991 and added another three top flight starts when he returned to Villa Park in April 1991.
Butler joined Division Two side Barnsley in July 1991 and missed only three League games in his debut season at Oakwell. Butler retained his first team shirt for two more seasons but was given a supporting role over the following two seasons, taking his tally to 138 appearances. He spent February 1996 on loan at League Division 3 side Scunthorpe United, making two appearances, before leaving Barnsley at the end of the 1995/96 season. In July 1996 he joined League Division 3 side Wigan Athletic and was ever-present during the 1996/97 season as the Latics won the league title and promotion to the third tier. He began the 1997/98 season at Wigan and took his tally to 70 appearances before joining Scottish Premier League side Dunfermline Athletic in July 1998. He made 38 appearances for the Pars during the 1998/99 season but the club was relegated and Lee returned to England.
In September 1999 he joined League Division 3 side Halifax Town where he spent three seasons as first choice goalkeeper, making 105 appearances before the Shaymen were relegated to the Conference National in May 2002 – echoing Butler’s experience at the start of his career at Lincoln City fifteen years earlier. After a short spell at Conference National side Doncaster Rovers Butler returned to Halifax and served the club for six more years, apart from one season spent at National League North side Alfreton Town, before hanging up his gloves in 2008.
By 2008, when his playing days were drawing to an end, Butler had started coaching goalkeepers at Halifax. Between 2008 and 2013 Butler was goalkeeping coach at Doncaster Rovers. In 2013 he joined Bradford City in a similar role, starting a working relationship with manager Phil Parkinson that endured when the former Hull City manager moved to Bolton Wanderers in 2016 and Sunderland in 2019. In July 2021 he again followed Parkinson to upwardly mobile Conference National side Wrexham, but after one season on the Dragons’ staff Butler retired from football in June 2022.
Details
Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 30 May 1966, Sheffield
Hull City First Game: 20 March 1991, Oldham Athletic A (Division Two), 24 years, 294 days old
Hull City Final Game: 1 April 1991, Charlton Athletic H (Division Two), 24 years, 306 days old
Clubs
Harworth Colliery Institute (1984-1985), Lincoln City (1985-1987), Matlock Town (1986, loan), Boston United (1987, loan), Aston Villa (1987-1991), Hull City (1991, loan), Barnsley (1991-1996, loan), Scunthorpe United (1996, loan), Wigan Athletic (1996-1998), Dunfermline Athletic (1998-1999), Halifax Town (1999-2002), Doncaster Rovers (2002), Halifax Town (2002-2004), Alfreton Town (2004-2005), Halifax Town (2005-2008)
Hull City Record
Career: 4 apps, 0 goals
Lee Butler| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990/91 | 4 (0) | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |