Butler Charlie Image 1 Manchester United 1922

Description

Watford, Hertfordshire born right back Charlie “Joe” Butler began his senior football career with Southern League club Ton Pentre after the First World War, from where he was signed by Manchester United in 1922, spending 1922-23 on the books at Old Trafford without making a first team breakthrough. He then joined Third Division (South) club Gillingham in July 1923, making his Football League debut against Bristol Rovers the next month, but he lost his place after his second match and went on loan to Grays Thurrock United during the autumn and early winter of 1923 before returning to Priestfield at the year end.

He made 11 further appearances before the season end and then spent the next two seasons as a regular in The Gills’ line up, before being transferred to Brentford in September 1926 after 6 matches of the 1926-27 season had elapsed, having made 82 appearances for the Kent club. At Brentford he was a near ever present for two seasons, featuring in their 1926-27 FA Cup run when they knocked out both his former club Gillingham and First Division club West Ham United in a replay before losing to Reading in the fifth round, also missing only two matches in their 1927-28 campaign. But in 1928, after 75 appearances for Brentford, he moved to the nascent North American soccer leagues and played for Montreal Carsteel, his last known club.