Jack Butland

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

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 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.

[10] 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.

[12] 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.

[16] Butland was short-listed for November's League Two Player of the Month award,[17] and finished his loan spell with seven clean sheets from his twelve appearances.

[18] 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.

[21] 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.

[18] 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.

[30] 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".

[35] On his return to Stoke for the 2013–14 season, he found himself third choice behind Asmir Begović and Thomas Sørensen, and on 26 September, he joined Championship club Barnsley on a three-month emergency loan.

With Barnsley's only other fit goalkeeper an inexperienced 19-year-old,[36] Butland went straight into the starting eleven for their next match, a 2–1 defeat at Leicester City in which he brought down Jamie Vardy to concede a penalty and was perhaps fortunate to receive only a yellow card.

[38] On 1 January 2014, Butland made his Premier League debut for the Potters, replacing injured keeper Thomas Sørensen at half time against Everton; the match ended as a 1–1 draw.

"[42] With injury to Leeds' first-choice keeper Paddy Kenny, Butland went straight into the first team, made his debut in a 0–0 draw with Middlesbrough, and was named man of the match.

[54] On 27 October, in the fourth round of the League Cup, he saved from Eden Hazard as Stoke defeated Chelsea in a penalty shootout after a 1–1 draw.

He played 45 times, missing a league match only once, after the birth of his son,[70] and kept 18 clean sheets, the third best in the Championship behind Dean Henderson and Darren Randolph.

[76] The season was suspended in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and during the lockdown Butland participated in a campaign making phone calls to vulnerable supporters.

[78] Butland signed for Premier League club Crystal Palace on 16 October 2020 on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee,[79][80] reported by BBC Sport as £1 million.

[88] On 6 June 2023, Scottish Premiership club Rangers confirmed that Butland had agreed to join them on a four-year deal on 1 July, after the expiry of his contract with Crystal Palace.

Butland made his international debut on 3 October 2008, keeping a clean sheet as the England under-16 team beat their Northern Ireland counterparts 6–0 in a Victory Shield match.

[106] He came on as a half-time substitute in a pre-Games friendly against Brazil on 20 July, and according to the Telegraph, "Only three superb late saves from Jack Butland prevented the scoreline being more emphatic" as Great Britain lost 2–0.

[107] Butland started all of Britain's group matches in the tournament and conceded two goals, one in a 1–1 draw with Senegal and the other in a 3–1 victory over the United Arab Emirates.

Against Senegal, he cleared the ball straight to the unmarked Sadio Mané, but redeemed himself by rushing out to distract the attacker, who shot wide.

[113] He made no appearances, but kept his place when Roy Hodgson named an experimental squad for the first friendly of the 2012–13 season, against Italy in Bern on 15 August.

[4] On 12 October 2015, he was handed his second cap and his first competitive international appearance, away to Lithuania at the end of UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying, with England already assured of their place in the tournament.

Butland with Birmingham City in 2012