Hasselbaink sees answer to midfield problems in Calum return
CALUM Butcher has returned for a second spell with Burton Albion – six years after leaving the Pirelli Stadium.
He was signed then, in 2015, by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink to bolster the midfield in a side that was heading for promotion from League One after the Dutchman had led the Brewers out of League Two as champions.
Back then, he was signed from Dundee United and that is where he is arriving from again now.
Now 31, the midfielder went from Burton to Millwall, then to Mansfield Town, before starting a three-year spell back north of the border, earning promotion from the Scottish Championship in his first season, then playing for two seasons in the Scottish Premiership.
“It’s brilliant, I’m really happy to be here,” said Butcher, who has signed a two-year deal.
“It’s great to see some familiar faces. Working under the gaffer before, I know what he’s about and we had a discussion and it just felt right.
“This worked out really well for me. When you move to a new club, you want to hit the ground running and this allows me to do that.”
Hasselbaink sees his new signing as a defensive midfielder.
“His role is a little bit different from last time he was here,” said the Dutchman.
“He used to play as a number eight but he is more of an experienced defensive midfielder now.
“We have signed him for his competitiveness and to give us a little bit more balance in our team.
“We think he could be the piece defensively that stops the counter-attacks and starts the play.
“He’s a little bit older now but he is still very fit and we are going to use him mainly in a defensive way.
“He’s not been training with anyone and his last game was in March, so we need to give him a bit of time to get fully fit.
“He’s quite explosive and is going to have to go through the pain to get himself ready but we’re quietly confident that he will do that quickly.”
Those are interesting thoughts from Hasselbaink, since Burton do not, on the face of it, appear to be short of defensively-minded midfielders.
However, the manager noted after the friendly against Nottingham Forest that his team had often been on the back foot when the opposition had won the ball and were in transition and there were many instances last season when they were caught out by sides attacking quickly on the counter.
Butcher has not, it seems, left Dundee United on the best of terms. He fell foul of the management when he returned late from an international break in April, although he had not been playing internationally himself, and was told he would not be playing again that season.
Coach Tam Courts, who has also since left the club, maintained that it was “a private matter” and would remain so but the club released Butcher from a contract that was due to run to 2024. There have been rumours in Scotland of a fall-out with other first-team squad players.
After finishing Burton’s promotion season under Nigel Clough, Butcher did not stay long in the first Championship season. Clough, short of strikers, played him up front in the 3-2 League Cup win against Bury – he scored – then he made one Championship appearance and also played in the 5-0 League Cup defeat to Liverpool before being allowed to leave to join Millwall.
Hasselbaink obviously feels he knows Butcher well enough to get the best out of him, however.
As one man Hasselbaink has signed twice for Burton arrived, another departed, Bryn Morris ending his second spell with the club by joining Grimsby Town.
Morris was initially brought to the Pirelli Stadium as a teenager on loan from Middlesbrough by Hasselbaink in November 2014 and returned last season.
But he could not make an impact in midfield and made only one start, with six substitute appearances, in League One, before finishing the season on loan with Hartlepool United.