Football Butcher aiming to build on promising first season with Paulton
EDWARD Butcher says he is ready to go again in pursuit of a Paulton Rovers promotion push next term.
The 26-year-old flying forward enjoyed a splendid first 2019-20 campaign at Winterfield Road before his, and everyone else’s, season was cut short courtesy of the coronavirus crisis.
His appetite for the fight firmly intact, Butcher has all but pledged his immediate future to the club, with a view to attempting elevation to the Southern League Premier Division with John Rendell’s team.
Paulton were on the cusp of the play-off places when the football season ground to a halt, causing evident disappointment for Butcher and Co who felt they had it in them to land a coveted top-five spot following two forgettable seasons battling it out in the lower reaches of the Division One South table.
Butcher insisted: “The manager has told me he wants me to stay and that he wants to keep the squad together and hopefully enhance it in certain areas.
“I’ve said to him I see no reason to go anywhere else, although he knows I want to play at as high a level as possible.
“How far I go is dependent on how well I keep playing. I’m only 26 and I feel I have been better and more consistent in my performances, although there are always areas to improve on.”
When it comes to serious football, Butcher is a comparative novice. “I didn’t start playing for a club until in my teens,” he said. “I’d only played inter-school stuff at The Park School in Yeovil so I didn’t ever get that academy grounding.
“I was more into cross country running and 800 metres which I’m sure helped with my running ability and pace in later years and enabled me to build up strong leg muscles, all of which has stood me in good stead for football.
“I eventually joined Ilminster Town Under-15s at the age of 14 and that’s where my competitive football career started.”
Butcher’s senior journey took him through Chard Town’s Toolstation Western League days and Bridport, for two spells, in the same league’s top flight sandwiching a spell with Street, under Richard Fey, in the Southern League’s second tier early last season before Paulton came calling.
He recalled: “I’d just finished with Street when I first had a connection with Paulton. A friend I worked with, Simon, who lives just behind the ground, knew their media man Tony Walsh there and he asked me if he’d be happy to pass my number to him (Walsh).
“I’d already committed to playing for my old Chard manager Adam Fricker at Bridport again for the final 15 games of last season and having left with nine goals under my belt with Street, I went on to score 14 times for Fricks, all from the left wing, so I was in a rich vein.
“It was only when I spoke to John Rendell at Paulton last spring after my number had been passed over through that friend of mine that I was told he (Rendell) and his assistant Paul Tovey had been keeping an eye on me for a while. In fact, I’d played against Paulton for Street three times and scored and had an assist in one of those games.
“I did have calls from other clubs but John Rendell made me feel I would come in as a main creative player which was a compliment.”
Butcher, who lives in the small village of Dinnington on the outskirts of Ilminster, has enjoyed a terrific maiden stint in Paulton colours, having joined them from Bridport in tandem with his teammate there and long-time friend and neighbour Braeden Symes, a central midfielder who he also performed alongside with Chard.
Clearly relishing his football, Butcher said: “I always like to play with a smile on my face. It helps when you play for managers who believe and trust in you and allow you to express yourself.
“I’ve played a lot on the left wing but I can play on the right, as a No 10 and upfront on my own at times when we’re trying to see out games. My ideal role is at No 10 behind the two front men as it offers more freedom to move and, although my right foot is reasonably effective, I’m naturally left footed so I tend to drift to that side anyway.
“I scored 19 goals this season, ten of them in the league, to put me as second top scorer at the club behind Ben Bament’s 27 goals in total. And I made 17 assists.
“I’ve really enjoyed it at Paulton: there’s a big family-feel there, even when the football’s not on, and it’s a shame it all ended when it did as we were right in the mix to get back in the play-offs. We showed we had a good enough squad, most of whom were new together last summer, and it’s about making that extra push to challenge strongly for those top spots next time.”
Butcher has extra reason to want to succeed in the game. He explained: “My grandad Peter Hedges has always watched my games along with other members of my family, including my mum, Lois, who is a keen photographer.
“Grandad has enjoyed his season watching Paulton and me playing football generally from the moment I started out. It’s great that he has kept an album with lots of newspaper cuttings relating to my career.
“In fact another relative of mine, Sam Hedges, played for Paulton only last season!”