Butt Len Image 3 Blackburn Rovers 1938

Description

Wilmslow, Cheshire born inside forward Len Butt started his football career with local junior club Brown Mission, Wilmslow before moving to Morley Rovers in the Stockport Combination at the age of 15, and he represented The Combination against an Irish League side. In the 1927-28 season at Ashton National he scored an average of one goal per match before signing for Third Division (North) Stockport County in August 1928, making his Football League debut at Darlington in February 1930, scoring the winner in a 2-1 victory. However he only played 8 times for The Hatters over two seasons before joining non league Macclesfield at the start of the 1931-32 season, replacing Billy Johnston who had returned to Manchester United.

During his time at the Moss Rose, Butt became one of the most respected players in the history of the club, was an excellent dribbler of the ball and had an explosive shot which enabled him to become one of the club’s top scorers, with 106 goals in 189 appearances. A valuable member of the double Cheshire League Championship sides in 1931-32 and 1932-33, he also won a winners’ medal in the Challenge Cup competition in 1931-32 and a winners’ medal in the Cheshire Senior Cup competition in 1934-35.

He returned to Football League action joining First Division Huddersfield Town in May 1935, being ever present in 1935-36 as The Terriers finished third in the League Championship, through to his transfer to Blackburn Rovers in January 1937, having played 70 consecutive matches scoring 11 goals. At Ewood Park he only missed one game, in 1938-39, between joining and the suspension of football due to the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, and he scored 20 goals in both 1937-38, when he was the club’s top goalscorer, and 1938-39, when they won the Second Division Championship.

During the War, in between his Army service, he guested for Manchester United, Huddersfield Town, Wrexham, Manchester City, York City, Chelsea, Aldershot and Stockport County, and was a runner up with Blackburn Rovers in the 1940 Football League War Cup Final.

After the War he resumed with Blackburn Rovers making a further 10 League appearances in  the first half of 1946-47 before joining York City in January 1947, having scored 48 goals in 120 appearances for Rovers. He scored twice for the Bootham Crescent club in 25 games over 9 months before joining Mansfield Town, playing out the remainder of 1947-48 with 5 goals in 17 appearances for The Stags, by when he became the second oldest player in Mansfield’s history to have played for them in the League, aged 37. He then became player-manager of non league Mossley for two years, and manager of Wilmslow Albion before returning to Macclesfield Town to manage the reserve team.