Dennis Butler

Last updated

Dennis Butler
Personal information
Full name Dennis Anthony Butler [1]
Date of birth (1944-06-24) 24 June 1944 (age 80) [1]
Place of birth Atherton, England [1]
Position(s) Winger
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1959–1968 Bolton Wanderers 65 (11)
1968–1973 Rochdale 156 (36)
Total221(47)
Managerial career
1978–1979 Port Vale
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Dennis Anthony Butler (born 24 June 1944) is an English former professional football player and manager. He played as a winger for Bolton Wanderers between 1959 and 1968 before ending his playing career following five years at Rochdale. Later, when he worked as a coach and assistant manager, he spent an unsuccessful time as Port Vale manager between 1978 and 1979.

Contents

Playing career

Dennis played for Leigh Grammar School and Atherton Schoolboys before joining Bolton Wanderers at 15 in 1959. He spent nine years with the club, racking up 65 appearances. Dennis made his debut under Bill Ridding in December 1963 at Aston Villa. The following week, he made a winning Burnden Park debut against the great Tottenham Hotspur side before scoring his first league goal at Arsenal in January 1964. At the end of the 1963–64 season, the "Trotters" were relegated out of the First Division. He was an ever-present until a bad cartilage injury in October 1964 kept him out of football for nearly a year. Butler made occasional appearances for Bolton before moving on to Rochdale in 1968, who won promotion out of the Fourth Division in 1968–69. He was signed by Bob Stokoe and spent over six years with Rochdale, playing 156 league games and scoring 36 goals before his early retirement as a player in 1973.

Managerial career

Following his retirement as a player, he coached at Rochdale and Bury. [2] He was made assistant manager at Port Vale under Bobby Smith in November 1977. [2] After Smith's departure to Swindon Town, he became manager for the 1978–79 season. [2] The "Valiants" finished 16th in the Fourth Division, and later, he left by mutual consent in August 1979. [2] He had signed popular player Bernie Wright from Bradford City for £9,000, However, most of his big money signings had torrid times at Vale Park. [2] He signed right-back Neil Wilkinson (free), Ken Todd (a club-record £37,000 signing despite only having made a handful of appearances for Wolverhampton Wanderers), Gerry Keenan (£15,000), Felix Healy (£8,000), Kevin Tully (£3,000 plus Neil Wilkinson), Andy Proudlove (£1,000), Peter Farrell (breaking the club-record again at £40,000), and Bob Delgado (£30,000). [2] To finance these signings, he sold John Froggatt (£8,000), Mick Moore (£2,000), Terry Bailey (£2,000), Ken Beamish (£35,000), and John Ridley (£55,000). [2] After his team were booed he called the fans 'a bunch of yobs'. [2] Vale recorded a £52,000 loss despite a remarkable £225,000 income from the club's commercial department. [2] Butler's transfer dealings had lost the club £36,000, whilst wages more than doubled from £113,000 to £259,000. [2] After leaving Burslem, Butler then reunited with Bobby Smith at Swindon, becoming the first-team coach before retiring from football in 1980. [2]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition [3]
ClubSeasonLeagueFA CupOther [a] Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Bolton Wanderers 1962–63 First Division 1641000174
1963–64 First Division1430010153
1964–65 Second Division 921100102
1965–66 Second Division2120011223
1966–67 Second Division40000040
1967–68 Second Division10000010
Total651121216913
Rochdale 1967–68 Fourth Division 1520000152
1968–69 Fourth Division461620104916
1969–70 Third Division 441010124612
1970–71 Third Division3083110349
1971–72 Third Division1800030210
1972–73 Third Division30001040
Total15636617216939
Career total22147829323852

Managerial statistics

Managerial record by team and tenure
TeamFromToRecord
PWDLWin %
Port Vale [4] 17 May 197830 August 197949141421028.6
Total49141421028.6

Honours

Rochdale

Related Research Articles

John Allen King was an English football player and manager. He is widely regarded as being the most successful manager in the history of Tranmere Rovers and had a stand at Prenton Park named in his honour in 2002. In November 2014, a statue of King was unveiled outside the ground.

Robert William Smith is an English former footballer and football manager. He was capped by England at Schoolboys and Youth level. He is the son of Conway Smith and grandson of Billy Smith, from whom he gets his middle name.

David John Flitcroft is an English professional football manager and former player. His older brother is the former Blackburn Rovers and Manchester City player Garry Flitcroft.

Henry Edward Hubbick was an English footballer who played professional football for Burnley, Bolton Wanderers, Port Vale, and Rochdale either side of World War II.

David Harris is an English former football defender who had a six-year professional career in the English Football League with Port Vale from 1973 to 1979. He was voted the club's Player of the Year in 1974 and 1977. He then spent two seasons with Halifax Town, before entering the non-League scene with Stafford Rangers.

Ronald Wilson is a Scottish former footballer who played as a left-back. He played 300 games in an eleven-year career in the Football League, scoring five goals.

Henry Poole was an English professional footballer noted for his swerving free kicks. Primarily a half back, he had the third highest number of appearances for Port Vale. He made 499 league and cup appearances for the club in a fifteen-year association from 1953 to 1968. Whilst Poole was at the club, the "Valiants" won the Fourth Division title in 1958–59.

Kenneth Beech is an English former footballer. A midfielder, he played for Port Vale between 1976 and 1981, picking up the club's Player of the Year award in 1980, also playing on loan at American club Cleveland Cobras in 1978. In 1981, he was sold to Walsall before he moved on to Peterborough United two years later. He dropped into non-League football with Stafford Rangers in 1985, with whom he won the Conference League Cup, before he retired in 1988. He played 314 league games in the Football League, scoring 28 goals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Cope (footballer)</span> English footballer

John William Cope was an English footballer who played at left-back and was noted for his tough-tackling ability. He played a total of 200 league games in a nine-year career in the Football League with Bolton Wanderers and Port Vale. He helped the "Valiants" to win the Third Division North title in the 1929–30 season. He returned to Port Vale shortly after World War II and remained as a coach at the club until shortly before his death.

Peter John Farrell is an English former football player and coach.

Anthony John Lacey is an English former footballer who played as a midfielder for Stoke City, Port Vale, Rochdale, and Stafford Rangers. He made 288 league appearances in a ten-year career in the Football League. He won promotion out of the Fourth Division with Port Vale in 1969–70. He later went into coaching with Stoke City and served as caretaker manager for eight games in 1985. He began coaching at the Wolverhampton Wanderers Academy in 1996.

Thomas Lawrence Hamlett was an English footballer who played at right-back for Congleton Town, Bolton Wanderers, and Port Vale. He scored nine goals in 181 league appearances in the six seasons of the Football League immediately following World War II. He later spent 25 years on the coaching staff at Port Vale, from July 1958 to March 1983.

Gerard Patrick Keenan is an English former footballer who played 240 league and cup games in the English Football League for Bury, Port Vale, and Rochdale from 1975 to 1984. He served Accrington Stanley as player-manager from 1984 to 1986. He later worked as player-manager at Ashton United, Rossendale United and Bacup Borough.

Alan Henry Boswell was an English football goalkeeper who made 479 league and cup appearances in a 12-year career in the English Football League.

William Henry Marshall was an English footballer who played at inside-forward. He scored 71 goals in 276 league appearances in the Football League, playing for Nottingham Forest, Southport, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Port Vale, Tottenham Hotspur, and Rochdale.

Christopher Leslie Pearce is a Welsh former footballer. A goalkeeper, he made 304 league appearances in a 14-year career in the Football League.

Steven Jeffrey Taylor is an English former footballer. A forward, he scored 157 goals in 441 league games in a 15-year career in the Football League.

Dennis Bailey is an English former footballer who played as a forward. Though a player in the Football League for eight years between 1953 and 1961, he featured just once each for Bolton Wanderers and Port Vale.

The 1978–79 season was Port Vale's 67th season of football in the Football League, and their first season back in the Fourth Division following their relegation from the Third Division. Bernie Wright was highly impressive with his fifteen goals, though the rest of the team limped to a sixteenth-place finish, and exited both cup competitions at the first stage. This occurred with unrest in the boardroom behind the scenes, unrest amongst fans on the terraces, and annoyance from Butler towards the fans for abusing his players. Butler broke club transfer-records in both signing players and selling them.

The 1979–80 season was Port Vale's 68th season of football in the Football League, and their second-successive season in the Fourth Division. One of the club's worst ever seasons, Vale finished twentieth in the league and exited both cup competitions at the first stage. They also lost a tremendous amount of money. There was also a managerial merry-go-round, with Dennis Butler replaced by Alan Bloor, who was in turn replaced by John McGrath, with Bill Bentley also spending a short period as caretaker manager.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Kent, Jeff (1996). Port Vale Personalities. Witan Books. p. 49. ISBN   0952915200.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Kent, Jeff (1990). "Surviving on a Shoestring (1969–1979)". The Valiants' Years: The Story Of Port Vale. Witan Books. pp. 227–257. ISBN   0-9508981-4-7.
  3. ↑ Dennis Butler at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
  4. ↑ Dennis Butler management career statistics at Soccerbase
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.