Paul Butler (footballer born 1972)
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Paul John Butler | ||
| Date of birth | 2 November 1972 | ||
| Place of birth | Moston, England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||
| Playing position | Centre-back | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1991–1996 | Rochdale | 158 | (10) |
| 1996–1998 | Bury | 84 | (4) |
| 1998–2001 | Sunderland | 79 | (3) |
| 2000–2001 | → Wolverhampton Wanderers (loan) | 5 | (0) |
| 2001–2004 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 119 | (3) |
| 2004–2007 | Leeds United | 100 | (4) |
| 2006–2007 | → Milton Keynes Dons (loan) | 8 | (0) |
| 2007 | Milton Keynes Dons | 9 | (0) |
| 2007–2009 | Chester City | 35 | (2) |
| Total | 597 | (26) | |
| National team | |||
| 2000 | Republic of Ireland | 1 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Paul John Butler (born 2 November 1972) is a former footballer where he played as a centre-back. Despite being born in Manchester he played for Republic of Ireland. He was most recently a player at League Two side Chester City, where he also had spells as captain and assistant-manager.
He has previously played in the Premier League for Sunderland and Wolverhampton Wanderers, and was also a former captain of Leeds United.
Butler was born, in Moston, Manchester and began his professional career at Rochdale in 1991 and remained with the club for five seasons before joining Bury. Here, he won promotion to the second flight in his first season.
After one season in the second flight with Bury, he moved to Sunderland for £1million and won the First Division championship in his first season. He featured through a full season in the Premier League in 1999/2000.
However, he found himself often left out of Sunderland's first team during the following season. To gain playing time, First Division Wolves took him on loan in late 2000, a move made permanent by incoming manager Dave Jones for £1million in January 2001. He was made club captain for the following season which saw the team mount an automatic promotion challenge, only to fall away in the final weeks into the play-offs, where they lost to Norwich. The next year saw Butler win a second promotion to the top flight though, as the club won the play-offs, beating Sheffield United 3–0 in the 2003 final.
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