Butland: Jack

2014-2014 (Leeds Player Details)(Player Details)

Goalkeeper

Born: Bristol: 10-03-1993

Debut: v Middlesbrough (a): 22-02-2014

6’4" 14st 11lb (2014)

Butland was a product of the Birmingham City Academy and was always a candidate for the England teams. He started his career in his home town of Bristol, playing with Clevedon United and the Jamie Shore Academy, before joining Birmingham City as a schoolboy in 2007, signing a two year apprenticeship on leaving Clevedon Community School in 2009.and then, while still only sixteen made his debut for the club's Reserve team. He turned professional at the first opportunity, signing a two-and-a-half year contract on his seventeenth birthday on 10th March 2010, and was voted the Birmingham "Young Player of the Year" at the end of the 2009-10 season. He made his England debut for the Under-Sixteen team in a Victory Shield against Northern Ireland on 3rd October 2008 while still at school at Cliveden and collected four caps, making his final appearance against Germany on 13th April 2009. He made his England debut for the Under-Sixteen team in a Victory Shield against Northern Ireland on 3rd October 2008 and collected four caps, making his final appearance against Germany on 13th April 2009. His England Under-Seventeen debut came against Turkey on 28th August 2009 and he made nine appearances before his final game at that level against Spain on 30th May 2010. He was a member of the team that won the 2010 UEFA European Under-Seventeen Football Championship and was also voted into the "team of the competition" in the same tournament. He made his England Under-nineteen debut on 2nd September 2010 at Gresty Road, Crewe, when still only seventeen and a half, starting against Slovakia, but later gave way to Sam Johnstone. In early October 2010 he sustained a broken hand which sidelined him for almost six months. His second cap came as a sixty-first minute substitute for Jed Steer at Sportpark Puttereng on 29th March 2011 in a 0-3 defeat by the Netherlands. He went on to gain four caps at that level as first choice keeper, playing full games, on 2nd June 2011 in a 3-2 win over Switzerland at Centre sportif de Colovray, Nyon, Switzerland and in his final game, three days later, in a 1-1 draw with Spain at the same venue in the 2011 UEFA Under-19 Championships at the Elite qualifying stage. He progressed to the England Under-Twenty for the Group F second phase FIFA World Youth Championship 2011 in Colombia as first choice keeper and started all four games and full games in each. He made his debut in a 0-0 draw with North Korea on 29th July 2011 at the Estadio Atanasio Girardot, Medellín. This was followed, four days later, by another 0-0 draw, this time with Argentina at the same venue and two days after there was again no score as they played Mexico at the Estadio Olimpico Jaime Moron Leon, Cartagena. His fourth and final cap came in the 0-1 defeat by Nigeria at the Estadio Centenario, Armenia on 10th August 2011, which saw England eliminated from the competition. He was still not quite eighteen and a half when he was first called up for the England Under-Twenty-One team, making his debut on 1st September 2011 in a UEFA Under-Twenty-One Championship 2013 preliminary game in Group Eight in a 6-0 win over Azerbaijan at Vicarage Road, Watford. He went on to play many times at that level and is presently the Captain of the side and has made twenty-nine appearances. He was in need of first team experience and in early September 2011 Birmingham, after giving him a new contract to expire in June 2015, loaned him to League Two team, Cheltenham Town, on a short-term deal, initially for one month, which was later extended until the end of the calendar year. He made his debut for them on 10th September 2011 in a 2-0 home win over Macclesfield Town and when he returned to St Andrew's he had started twelve League games with them. He returned to Cheltenham on 19th February 2012 until the end of the season, but there was the proviso that after twenty-eight days Birmingham could recall him should the need arise. He made his return debut on 21st February and went on to make a further twelve srarts at Whaddon Road, but also sat unused on the bench in four games for his parent club towards the end of the season. It was less than a year after his England Under-Twenty-One debut when he became the youngest goalkeeper at the age of nineteen Years five Months and five Days, ever to play for England at full international level when he replaced John Ruddy at half-time on 15th August 2012 at the Stade de Suisse Wankdorf, Bern, in a 2-1 win over Italy in a friendly, keeping a clean sheet for the time he was on the pitch. He was also named in Stuart Pearce's eighteen-man Great Britain squad for the 2012 London Olympics. He came on as a half-time substitute in a pre-tournament friendly with Brazil on 20th July 2012 and England had him to thank for restricting the score to a 0-2 defeat, as he kept a clean sheet at the Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough. Butland started all of Great Britain's group games in the tournament, on 26th July 2012 in a 1-1 draw with Senegal at Old Trafford three days later in a 3-1 win over the the United Arab Emirates at Wembley. The third game at Cardiff's Millenium Stadium saw a 1-0 win over Uraguay on 1st August 2012 which saw them through to the Quarter-Final at the same venue three days later, and after the scores were level after extra-time, South Korea won the penalty shoot out 5-4. He still had not made his debut for Birmingham City and this was rectified when three days after his England debut against Italy he was the Blues custodian in a 1-1 draw at home to Charlton Athletic at St Andrew's. He soon established himself as the team's first choice goalkeeper being an ever-present for them in the Championship. However, on 31st January 2013, after twenty-nine starts, with his club under severe financial pressure, he was sold to EPL side Stoke City on a four-and-a-half year contract for an intial fee of £3.3 million which could rise to £3.5 million, an amount they had agreed with Chelsea before Butland rejected the terms, but was immediately loaned back until the end of the season and he duly completed the remaining seventeen starts. He was again voted Birmingham's "Young Player of the Year". While Butland had failed to add to his full England cap, he was acknowledged as one for the future and almost certain to succeed Joe Hart eventually. However, he had continued to represent the England Under-Twenty-Ones on a regular basis. His second and succeeding four caps came in the UEFA Euro qualifing Group Eight fixtures, which saw England win 3-0 over Iceland at Laugardalsvollur, Reykjavík, on 6th October 2011, and four days later win 2-1 in Norway at Marienlyst Stadion, Drammen and then on 14th November lose 1-2 to Belgium at Stade Charles Tondreau, Mons, but win the reverse game 4-0 at the Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough, on 29th February 2012. He missed the next two games in Azerbaijan and at home to Norway, as he was the the full England squad but brought his caps to eight as he played in both legs of the qualification round with Serbia as they won 1-0 at Carrow Road, Norwich, on 12th October 2012 and repeated the same score four days later in the away leg at Mladost Stadium, Krusevac. His next appearance was in a 3-0 win over Romania in a friendly at Adams Park, High Wycombe on 21st March 2013, in which he had to be replaced by Jason Steele with three minutes on the clock. It was part of the build up to the 2013 European Under-Twenty-One Championships, Group A, in Israel, in which he picked up two further caps in a 0-1 defeat by Italy on 5th June 2013 at the Broomfield Stadium, Tel Aviv, and three days later he played a full game in another defeat, this time by 1-3 by Norway at the HaMoshava Stadium, Petah Tikva. The two defeats ensured Englands exit from the competition and on 13th August 2013 he picked up his twelfth cap in a 6-0 win over Scotland at Bramall Lane, Sheffield, which led into the UEFA Under-Twenty-One 2015 Championship, preliminary Group One. He played in five games to take his caps to seventeen, with a 1-0 win over Moldova at the Majedski Stadium, Reading, on 5th September 2013 and four days later a 1-1 daw with Finland at the Tampereen stadion, Tampere, Finland. The following month there were two further games with a 4-0 away win over San Marino at the Olimpia Stadion, Serravalle, on 10th October 2013, in which he became captain for the first time. He retained the captaincy for his time with the Under-Twenty-Ones. and a 5-0 home win over Lithuania five days later at Portman Road, Ipswich, and on 14th October there was a 3-0 win over Finland in the reverse fixture at the stadium MK, Milton Keynes. He picked up a further three caps in the same competition to take his total to twenty by the end of the 2013-14 season. On 19th November 2013 he started in the 9-0 slaughter of San Marino at the Greenhous Meadow Stadium, Shrewsbury, and England were already five goals to the good when he gave way to Jonathan Bond at half-time. Then played a full game in each of the two encounters with Wales as England won 1-0 at Pride Park, Derby, on 5th March 2014 and 3-1 at the Liberty Stadium, Swansea, on 19th May 2014. Butland had found that he was third in line for the Stoke City goalkeeping jersey behind Asmir Begovic and Thomas Sorensen, so when Championship side, Barnsley, found themselves in need of a goalkeeper, it was convenient for both clubs to enter into a three month emergency loan agreement on 26th September 2013. He made his debut in a 1-2 defeat by Leicester City at King Power Stadium on 28th September 2013 and when he returned to Stoke on 25th December 2013, after Asmir Begovic was injured, he had started thirteen League games. He made his Stoke debut in a 1-1 draw at home to Everton on 1st January 2014 when he replaced an injured Thomas Sorenson at half-time. He made his starting debut in the 2-1 Third Round F.A. Cup win over Leicester City three days later and his League starting debut came in a 3-5 home defeat by Liverpool eight days later and there was a further start in a 0-1 away loss to Crystal Palace the following weekend before Thomas Sorenson was reinstated as the first choice. Stoke Manager, Mark Hughes was intent on giving Butland as much exposure to first-team pressure as possible, and so when Leeds United needed cover for the injured Paddy Kenny he was allowed to go to Leeds for the rest of the season on 20th February 2014. He went straight into the first team making his debut, with a man of the match performance in a 0-0 draw at Middlesbrough two days later. He remained ever-present, starting sixteen League games. In the 2014-15 season, he was second choice to Asmir Begovic, but played in the two League Cup and three F.A. Cup ties, before playing the final three League games of the season when he was preferred to Begovich. In between he had been loaned to Derby County for one month from 20th October 2014 and made his debut in a 1-0 win at Blackpool the next day, going on to make six starts in the League. By the end of the 2014-15 season he had started five League games and come off the bench once, and started two League Cup and 4 F.A. Cup ties for Stoke City. On 20th March, Butland signed a contract extension with Stoke which would keep him with the Potters until the summer of 2019. On the International front he took his caps to twenty-four as on 5th September 2014 he played a full game in the 1-0 win in Lithuania in a Group One qualifier at the Dariaus ir Gireno stadionas, Kaunus, and followed this by full games in the two legs of the qualifying round with Croatia with a 2-1 home win on 10th October 2014 at Molineux, Wolverhampton, and a repeat score in the reverse fixture four days later at the HNK Cibalia, Vinkovci. On 13th November 2014 he played a full game in a friendly 3-1 win over Portugal at Turf Moor, Burnley. During the close season he played two friendly internationals, on 5th June 2015 in a 3-1 win over the Republic of Ireland at St. George's Park, Burton, and then five days later a 1-0 win over Belarus, at Oakwell, Barnsley, in which he gave way to Jonathan Bond in the sixty-ninth minute. Those games were used as a lead up to the 2015 European Under-Twenty-One Football Championship, Group B, in the Czech Republic, where he played full games in a 0-1 loss to Portugal at Mestsky Fotbalovy Stadion, Uherske Hradiste, on 18th June 2014, a loss by the same score to Sweden, three days later at Andruv Stadion, Olomouc, and then a 1-3 defeat by Italy, three days after at the same venue, for his twenty-ninth cap.