Jack Butland

Jack Butland (born 10 March 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Rangers.

After playing for Clevedon United and the Bristol-based Jamie Shore Academy, he joined Birmingham City as a schoolboy in 2007 and began a two-year scholarship in the club's youth academy when he left school in 2009.

During his time at school Butland was a keen rugby player.

Named Birmingham City's Young Player of the Year at the end of the 2009–10 season, his progress was interrupted in October 2010 by a broken hand requiring surgery.

By the following April he had recovered well enough to be given a first-team squad number before the Premier League match against Wolverhampton Wanderers as cover, in case Ben Foster's injury or Colin Doyle's illness prevented either from taking part in the match.

At international level, he represented England at all age-group levels, playing for the under-17 team that won the 2010 European championships and for the under-20s at the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

While still aged 16, Butland made his reserve-team debut, and he signed his first professional contract, of two-and-a-half years, as soon as he turned 17 in March 2010.

Butland began his career with Birmingham City, and made his debut in the Football League in September 2011 while on loan to League Two club Cheltenham Town.

Soon after Butland made his England under-21 debut in September 2011, he joined League Two club Cheltenham Town on loan for a month to gain experience of first-team football.

He went straight into the starting eleven to make his Football League debut at home to Macclesfield Town on 10 September 2011, displacing Scott Brown who had until then made 107 consecutive starts for the club.

Butland had little to do as Cheltenham won the match 2–0.

Butland was on the bench for the last few matches of Birmingham's 2011–12 season as the club reached the play-off semi-finals.

During the close season, Birmingham were reported to have turned down a bid of £6 million for the player from Southampton, newly promoted to the Premier League.

Manager Lee Clark made it clear that it would take a "crazy" offer for him to be sold.

Butland established himself as first choice keeper at Birmingham in 2012–13 and was transferred to Premier League club Stoke City in January 2013 for a fee of £3.3 million.

He was loaned back to Birmingham and went on to play in every league match in 2012–13.

He was part of the England squad at UEFA Euro 2012, and later that year was the first-choice goalkeeper for the Great Britain team at the Summer Olympics.

He became the youngest goalkeeper to play for the senior England team when he made his debut in August 2012, and went on to make nine appearances.

Butland was born in Southmead, Bristol, and raised in nearby Clevedon where he attended Yeo Moor Primary School and Clevedon Community School.

In February 2012, Butland rejoined Cheltenham on a youth loan until the end of the season.

He went straight into the starting eleven, and kept a clean sheet against AFC Wimbledon to help maintain Cheltenham in the automatic promotion positions.

After Birmingham's first-choice goalkeeper, Boaz Myhill, injured a thumb, Butland was recalled by his parent club with three matches remaining in the regular season.

Over his two spells with Cheltenham, he conceded 26 goals from 24 League Two appearances, and was regularly scouted by bigger clubs; the Daily Telegraph reported that "no fewer than 52 scouts" had watched him at one match.

Butland himself stated that he wanted regular first-team football for the coming season, and after Ben Foster's departure for West Bromwich Albion during the close season, he was given squad number 1 for 2012–13.

He finally played his first competitive match for Birmingham – three days after his full England debut – on the opening day of the 2012–13 Football League season, in a 1–1 draw at home to Charlton Athletic.

After a potential sale of the club fell through in December, the chairman confirmed that player sales would be needed in the transfer window to relieve Birmingham's financial difficulties.

Butland told the club that he was not prepared to leave for a club where he would not be playing regular first-team football, and was reported to have rejected the chance to speak to European champions Chelsea about a possible transfer.

Lee Clark felt that Butland's determination to play football ahead of "profile and financial rewards" reflected the player's "unbelievable maturity", and suggested that Birmingham had lost potentially "the best goalkeeper in Europe".

Butland was ever-present in league matches for the 2012–13 season, and was voted Birmingham's Young Player of the Year.

Butland signed a four-and-a-half-year contract with Premier League club Stoke City on 31 January 2013.

As part of the deal, he returned to Birmingham City on loan for the remainder of the season.

Butland then spent time out on loan at Barnsley before making his Premier League debut in January 2014.

He had loan spells with Leeds United and Derby County in 2014 before he became Stoke's number one in 2015–16.

Butland spent seven seasons at Stoke, winning their player of the year award twice.

While still out on loan, Butland signed a new contract with Birmingham to expire in June 2015.

The initial month was later extended by a further two months, to begin after his return from under-21 duty in mid-October.

Butland was short-listed for November's League Two Player of the Month award, and finished his loan spell with seven clean sheets from his twelve appearances.

Cheltenham teammate Steve Elliot suggested that Butland had "everything he needs to play at the very top level", and where some players lack the attitude required to succeed, "Jack's head is screwed on, he knows what he wants and what he has to do to get there."

He joined Crystal Palace in 2020, but did not play regularly.

After a loan spell with Manchester United in the second half of the 2022–23 season, he agreed to sign for Rangers.