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.
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.
[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] After leaving Burslem, Butler then reunited with Bobby Smith at Swindon, becoming the first-team coach before retiring from football in 1980.