MARTIN BUTLER
Roy McFarland snapped up Martin Butler from Wallsall for a meagre £22,500 in the summer of 1997, surely one of the best bits of business Cambridge United has ever done. Maybe two crates of beer should be added to that fee as they, according to McFarland, sealed the deal when he invited his prospective new signing to his home for a chat!
Martin was content to drop a division to get regular football, and in his preferred position: He described himself as being ‘all over the place’ at Wallsall where he had been played on the wing, in midfield and even at left back.
Martin made his United debut on a hot August afternoon in Scarborough, and U’s fans immediately knew he was no ordinary striker. His darting runs across the back line ran the defenders ragged, and he was quite comfortable dropping deep to find space and to bring others into the game. He was a very modern striker.
His first goal in black and amber was at The Hawthorns in the Coca-Cola cup which took the U’s to within four minutes of knocking out West Brom. Despite missing three months of his first season through injury, Martin topped the United scoring charts in a mediocre campaign with 13 goals.
The following season Martin’s partnership with Trevor Benjamin flourished and they fired United to promotion to the third tier. He again finished as leading scorer with 20 goals, the first U’s player to hit that mark since his namesake Steve five years earlier. Martin’s goal at second-tier Watford sealed a Worthington Cup upset for the U’s and, a few weeks later, his trusty left foot scored the second in that most memorable of United comebacks at Premier League Nottingham Forest. With United top of the league, he bagged a hat-trick when the U’s thrashed Mansfield 7-2, and was, to nobody’s surprise, voted Player of the Year.
He took the step up a division in his stride and had scored 18 goals in 33 games in Division 3 before United could no longer hold off a string of suitors, and in February 2000 Martin moved to Reading for three-quarters of a million pounds.
Reading won a play-off place in his first full season with the Royals, and Martin collected 28 goals and another Player of the Year award along the way. Reading were promoted in second place the following season, but he suffered a badly broken leg which, if he had continued his rich vein of form, may well have denied him a move to a Premier League club.
In a total of 127 games across all competitions for the U’s Martin scored a magnificent 52 goals over just two-and-a-half seasons. This makes him a United legend and fully justifies his induction into the Cambridge United Hall of Fame. Two crates of beer have never been such value for money!
Roy McFarland snapped up Martin Butler from Wallsall for a meagre £22,500 in the summer of 1997, surely one of the best bits of business Cambridge United has ever done. Maybe two crates of beer should be added to that fee as they, according to McFarland, sealed the deal when he invited his prospective new signing to his home for a chat!
Martin was content to drop a division to get regular football, and in his preferred position: He described himself as being ‘all over the place’ at Wallsall where he had been played on the wing, in midfield and even at left back.
Martin made his United debut on a hot August afternoon in Scarborough, and U’s fans immediately knew he was no ordinary striker. His darting runs across the back line ran the defenders ragged, and he was quite comfortable dropping deep to find space and to bring others into the game. He was a very modern striker.
His first goal in black and amber was at The Hawthorns in the Coca-Cola cup which took the U’s to within four minutes of knocking out West Brom. Despite missing three months of his first season through injury, Martin topped the United scoring charts in a mediocre campaign with 13 goals.
The following season Martin’s partnership with Trevor Benjamin flourished and they fired United to promotion to the third tier. He again finished as leading scorer with 20 goals, the first U’s player to hit that mark since his namesake Steve five years earlier. Martin’s goal at second-tier Watford sealed a Worthington Cup upset for the U’s and, a few weeks later, his trusty left foot scored the second in that most memorable of United comebacks at Premier League Nottingham Forest. With United top of the league, he bagged a hat-trick when the U’s thrashed Mansfield 7-2, and was, to nobody’s surprise, voted Player of the Year.
He took the step up a division in his stride and had scored 18 goals in 33 games in Division 3 before United could no longer hold off a string of suitors, and in February 2000 Martin moved to Reading for three-quarters of a million pounds.
Reading won a play-off place in his first full season with the Royals, and Martin collected 28 goals and another Player of the Year award along the way. Reading were promoted in second place the following season, but he suffered a badly broken leg which, if he had continued his rich vein of form, may well have denied him a move to a Premier League club.
In a total of 127 games across all competitions for the U’s Martin scored a magnificent 52 goals over just two-and-a-half seasons. This makes him a United legend and fully justifies his induction into the Cambridge United Hall of Fame. Two crates of beer have never been such value for money!
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