John Dennis "Jack" Butler (14 August 1894 – 5 January 1961) was an English footballer, who played in the Football League for Arsenal and Torquay United as a centre-half. He made one appearance for the England national team and went on to a career as a manager, with Torquay United, Crystal Palace and Colchester United in the League. He also managed Royal Daring of Belgium and coached the Belgium national team.
Football career
Born in Colombo (in what is now Sri Lanka) to English parents, Butler moved back to Britain as a child. He played for Dartford and Fulham Thursday as a youth, before signing for Fulham in 1913 and moving to Arsenal in 1914. He played in the Gunners' reserve side in his first season, before World War I intervened. Butler duly signed up for the Royal Artillery and served in France during the war, and returned to Arsenal after the end of hostilities. By then he had come of age, and with the resumption of first-class football, he made his first-team debut for the Gunners, against Bolton Wanderers on 15 November 1919.
A tall, elegant and clean player, Butler initially played as a traditional "centre half" — i.e. as a central, deep-lying midfielder; he was in competition with the Gunner's regular centre halves, Chris Buckley and Alex Graham, but by 1924-25, he was the undisputed first-choice centre half, playing in all but three games of the club's League campaign that season. He also won his first and only cap for England, against Belgium on 8 December 1924.
He made a total of 296 appearances for Arsenal, scoring 8 goals.[1]
Butler left Arsenal in the summer of 1930. In all he played 296 matches for the Gunners, scoring eight goals. He joined Torquay United, and stayed there for two seasons before becoming a coach at Belgian club Royal Daring, and was coach of the Belgian national side at the 1938 FIFA World Cup. He later had a spell as a trainer at Leicester City, and went on to manage Torquay United (1946–1947), Crystal Palace (1947–1949) and Colchester United (1953–1955).
He died in 1961, at the age of 66.
Honours
As a player
- Arsenal
References
- George Allison (ed.) (1914). Arsenal Football Club Officialhandbook for Season 1914-15. Arsenal Football Club. N/A.
- Harris, Jeff & Hogg, Tony (ed.) (1995). Arsenal Who's Who. Independent UK Sports. ISBN 1-899429-03-4.
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