KANE FACES BUTCHER’S BLOCK
Calum plotting old pals’ axe
CALUM BUTCHER remembers when he was earning rave reviews and not team-mate Harry Kane.
The Essex-born Millwall midfielder, whose family is full of Tottenham fans, played alongside Kane for the Spurs youth team.
But back then it wasn’t Kane that the scouts and agents were raving about, it was the likes of Cameron Lancaster, now with US second-tier club Louisville City… and Butcher.
Tomorrow, the 26-year-old will get a chance to return to where it all began when the League One Lions attempt to add another Premier League scalp to their growing collection in the FA Cup.
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But he reckons they will have to stop the best striker in the country if they want to pull off another upset to go with beating Bournemouth, Watford and Leicester.
Butcher said: “This is the furthest I’ve been in the FA Cup and it will be a special moment going back to Tottenham, where it all started for me.
“I haven’t spoken to Harry in a few years but I’ll be speaking to him after the game, definitely.
“Our youth team was built up of such good players. Everyone in that team went on to do good things.
“We had Harry, Andros Townsend, Steven Caulker, Ryan Mason. We got the best out of each other.
“Everyone blossoms at different times, though, don’t they? What Kane’s gone on to do has probably proved a lot of people wrong and himself right.
“You have to pat him on the back and say it’s unbelievable where he’s got to. That’s all down to his hard work and dedication.
“I think everyone at the time could see his dedication, he was very focused, we all were. Andros always put in the extra time in training too.”
Butcher showed plenty of dedication himself, with his mum making the two-hour round trip from Southend to Chigwell with him every week after school for training.
“They were long nights,” he said. “But the coaches always drilled into us that the only way we were going to get better was if we put the hours in and kept practising.
“That’s what Harry did and it’s got him to where he is today.
“I think he’s the best striker in the country at the moment. When you look at his all-round game, he’s got a bit of everything and he’s a top goalscorer. We know it will be hard to stop him. “We have to nullify Harry and all the other top players they’ve got. We know it’s going to be tough. We see these boys every week on Match of the Day or playing for England. “Sometimes that quality you can’t stop. But we’ve been on a great run and we’ve built our confidence from the cup games. We could make an upset.” The Lions are unbeaten in 17 games and dreaming of another appearance in the last four of the FA Cup after losing in the 2013 semi-finals to Wigan in a match scarred by Millwall fans fighting each other. Their past giant-killings all came at The Den, but with almost 4,000 Lions fans expected to be at White Hart Lane, Butcher reckons tomorrow will almost feel like a home game. He added: “Against Leicester the crowd carried us through. Now we have to go away to a big club and it will be our biggest test. “But there’s still going to be a few thousand Millwall fans there who I don’t think will be quiet.”