[5][6] Butcher made his debut for Ipswich Town against Everton in the First Division on 15 April 1978 and over the next eight seasons would establish himself as the club's top central defender, combining leadership with great aerial ability and courage.

[7] In 1981, Butcher was part of the Ipswich side that won the UEFA Cup under Bobby Robson and came close to their first League title since 1962, though they were pipped at the post by Aston Villa.

[8] In 1986, Butcher left Ipswich when they were relegated, and became one of the first 'English invasion' players to join Scottish club Rangers following the appointment of Graeme Souness as manager.

In November 1990, he was approached by Leeds United, and came close to signing for the Elland Road club, but was then offered job as player-manager of Coventry City.

Six days later their FA Cup was ended in a fourth round replay defeat by Southampton[16] Butcher made six league appearances for the Sky Blues as they finished 16th in the 1990–91 First Division and then retired as a player.

[20] Butcher was dismissed on 6 January 1992 after just over a year as Coventry City manager, being replaced by his recently appointed assistant Don Howe.

Butcher re-registered himself as a player in August 1992, when he signed for Sunderland – founder members of the new Division One, which was the second tier of English football following the creation of the new FA Premier League.

He played 38 times for the Wearside club in 1992–93, becoming player-manager following the dismissal of manager Malcolm Crosby in January 1993 and securing their Division One survival by a single place.

Butcher's performances for Ipswich were noticed by England manager Ron Greenwood, who gave him his debut in a friendly against Australia on 31 May 1980, when he was 21 years old.

He became a regular member of the national side at this stage and remained England's first choice centre-back for the rest of the decade, playing in the 1986 World Cup.

In that tournament he played in the quarter final against Argentina in which Diego Maradona passed five English players before scoring, a goal sometimes described as the 'goal of the century'.

[22] A broken leg meant that Butcher was not in the England side that exited at the group stage of the 1988 European Championship while manager Robson was forced to rely on an inexperienced defensive partnership of Tony Adams and Mark Wright.

While playing for England in a vital World Cup qualifier against Sweden in Stockholm on 6 September 1989, Butcher suffered a deep cut to his forehead early in the game.

[23] His constant heading of the ball – unavoidable when playing in the centre of defence – disintegrated the bandages and reopened the cut to the extent that his white England shirt was red with blood by the end of the game.

After being linked for several weeks with a possible move to Sydney FC, Butcher was announced as their new head coach on 17 May 2006,[28] signing a two-year contract.

After a poor run of results, including only 5 wins in 23 matches, and under increasing pressure from the fans who had been chanting the name of former boss Martin Allen, he left Brentford on 11 December 2007.

As part of the push for promotion in 2009–10, ICT went on an unbeaten away run in the league that continued through the entire 2010 calendar year, culminating in a 1–1 draw against Hearts at Tynecastle on 18 December.

[40] This was explained due to winning three matches (including away to Celtic)[41] and drawing another, despite the other fixture in the month being a 5–1 defeat to Motherwell[42] and he led the club into second place by the end of 2012.

[48] Butcher's efforts in guiding Inverness to their top six finish were recognised when he was nominated in the four-man shortlist for PFA Scotland Manager of the Year.

[49] On 5 November 2013, Inverness confirmed that they had received an official approach from fellow Premiership side Hibernian to replace former manager Pat Fenlon with Butcher.

[50] On 11 November, Hibernian reached a compensation deal with Inverness for Terry Butcher to move to the club, alongside assistant manager Maurice Malpas.

His predecessor, Pat Fenlon, had left the team in a mid-table position, but a series of bad performances led to Butcher apologising and supporters describing his tactics as "gutless", "passionless" and "clueless".

[64][65] After a meeting with new chief executive Leeann Dempster to discuss Hibs' future plans, Butcher was sacked by the club on 10 June 2014.

[75] On 26 July 2019 it was confirmed, that Butcher had joined the coaching staff of Chinese club Guangzhou R&F to help fix the teams leaky defence.

[84] Butcher is a fan of heavy metal band Iron Maiden[85] and is friends with bassist and founding member Steve Harris.