I’ve had to make some soppy phone calls home

ENGLAND KEEPER BUTLAND BACK AFTER HIS YEAR OF INJURY HELL

AT LaST Jack Butland can talk about some good days again. Yesterday was one, back on the training ground at Stoke City.

‘Boots on, gloves on, flinging myself all over the place,’ the young goalkeeper smiled.

and Monday was a good day, too. Driving through the gates of St George’s Park to meet Gareth Southgate and the england squad. Of all the injured players invited, Butland was the only one to turn up.

‘It was brilliant to be back,’ he said. ‘I always feel nervous when I arrive. Butterflies. It means something doesn’t it? It’s england.

‘So I was nervous, especially when I was the only injured player there. I stuck out like a sore thumb but it was really good to be back in the mix. It’s humbling to know I am still in their thoughts.’

Butland has no criticism of those who didn’t make it to Southgate’s meeting.

‘It’s important for them to be doing the right thing and getting treatment,’ he said.

equally, the 24-year-old wouldn’t have missed it and revealed the frank messages the new england manager had for his squad.

‘I managed to rearrange my rehab to enable me to go and the fact that I am technically fit made it easier,’ he told Sportsmail.

‘There were a few home truths from Gareth that we haven’t been good enough. But he also reminded us that we can be the ones to change it, the ones who finally do something with our talent. He told us we can be the players who change the direction for english football.

‘It was a really frank, positive meeting and that’s what Gareth brings.’

For Butland, talk about changing the face of english football is perhaps premature and the fact that Southgate’s team face Germany tonight is poignant.

Just under a year ago the Stoke keeper won his fourth cap against the Germans in a friendly in Berlin and he has not played football since. a stress fracture of the ankle ended his night, his season and hopes of playing in euro 2016. and then it got worse.

Initially told he would be back in three months, Butland suffered a setback in pre-season and then another as he warmed up before his proposed comeback for Stoke Under 23s before Christmas.

‘It’s been a horrendous year and that was probably the lowest point,’ he said. ‘Something was off that night. I didn’t feel right and then there was a moment when I jumped and lost all power. I thought I was back and I wasn’t.

‘So I saw a surgeon in amsterdam — the best in europe — and he took two minutes to say, “That’s still broken. We need to go again”.

‘Basically, the initial fracture had reopened. The screws had not quite been placed well enough which left that original injury

vulnerable. It sounds drastic but it was simple to fix and that was what the new surgeon did, removing two of the screws and placing them in a different area.

‘That has enabled a fix that we didn’t get the first time. Now I feel really good and ready to go.’

If Butland is upset that the first operation — and indeed another in September — didn’t mend him, he doesn’t show it. Nor does he disguise the fact that a year of frustration and false hope has been mentally difficult.

‘When the surgeon in Amsterdam said it was still broken I remember walking out of the clinic and just calling home and it was all a bit emotional,’ he said.

‘There have been a few moments like that, some soppy phone calls to the parents over the last year.

‘When you wake up and it still hurts and you don’t know why, that does you in after a while.

‘But there are no regrets. I don’t blame anyone. I am just grateful people have stuck by me. I am back now and that’s great.’

Butland is popular at Stoke. Some injured players hide away but not him. Yesterday, he signed autographs for an hour in the club shop as part of a promotion to publicise the fact Stoke have frozen season ticket prices for a 10th successive year.

‘This is a community club and it’s amazing they do that,’ he said. ‘They care about the fans.’

Butland is forthright, too. Having been back in keeper training for over a fortnight, he will join the rest of Mark Hughes’ squad for the first time on Monday and aims to be back in the team before the end of the season.

‘I feel confident in the ankle and am kicking and diving about like I used to,’ he said. ‘I am over that mental hurdle.

‘It’s beneficial for everyone if I can get some game time and put the season to bed on a high.

‘It’s not good for the club if we go in to next season and it’s, “Ah, Jack hasn’t played a full game yet”, and everybody is umming and ahhing about it.

‘It changes everyone’s approach.’ Butland has never watched last March’s England game back but will watch tonight.

‘I thought I had just rolled my ankle and was stamping it in to the floor to try and sort it,’ he recalled.

‘I subsequently tried to kick the ball with it and run with it. I even tried saving a shot. But I had already broken it.

‘Panic sets in. You don’t want to come off for your country and look bad so you try to stay on.

‘But it ended as bad as it could have done really. The damage had been done.

‘But this time I will be watching as a fan and hoping I will be back soon as a player.

‘I feel confident and energised and ready to go.’

Stoke City’s Devot10n offer sees season-ticket prices frozen for the 10th season running. Supporters can take advantage of early bird prices for the 2017-18 season by purchasing before the March 31 deadline.