Dave Butler went from part-time football at Workington Reds to working with England managers Don Revie, Ron Greenwood and Terry Venables.
Now 81, Butler had played trials with Darlington and Newcastle after shining for Stockton Town juniors, before getting the opportunity to play at Workington under promotion-winning manager Ken Furphy.
It wasn’t a smooth transition from part-time to full-time professional – and for a time he went home to the North East after a bust-up at the Reds.
But he was persuaded to come back by Bill Leivers, during his short time in charge of Reds, and it’s a good job for the club they did.
Some time later, desperate for cash, he was sold to Watford for £13,500 and that kept Reds in business for the following season.
At Reds he played 198 league games, with eight goals, one of them a bit special as it was the 1,000th goal that Workington had scored in the Football League.
For Watford he featured in 168 first team games before an injury ended his career and after starting on a coaching career, switching to the medical side and physiotherapy after two years.
He joined Venables for the first time with Crystal Palace, started work with England’s age group sides, and then followed El Tel to QPR, Tottenham, and eventually the full England side.
Latterly he’s been working again for Tottenham on the analysis side, watching the opposition, but two years along with the rest of the senior scouts was told he was no longer needed.
Dave attended the recent special day at Borough Park to celebrate the last game, but missed out on a catch-up with Cumbria Crack’s John Walsh.
That was rectified over the weekend and in a lengthy chat Dave covers his time with the Reds and the managers he worked with as well as time with Spurs and England – finishing with his opinion on Tottenham’s current plight.
And his advice to youngsters hoping to make their way in professional sport, or any other sport – follow your dream.
You can hear their conversation below – and listen out for Dave’s Friday night ritual before every game as a player. You will be surprised!
