Let's blow the whistle and crack on with the tale of Jack Butland, who, stepping onto this mad pitch we call life on 10th of March 1993 in the land of English tea and crumpets, stands as an impressively gangling 6ft 5in (1.96m) and tips the scales at a sturdy 14st 11lb (94kg). Currently performing his uniformed acrobatics for Glasgow Rangers and safekeeping their goal with the stern resolve of someone guarding a box of gold, he's adorned (by choice or direction, who knows?) with the number 1 jersey.
Butland's market value currently hangs about £2.5m, a cheeky tip provided by the gossips over at Transfermarkt. His time in the bluenose stronghold of Rangers is set to strike twelve chimes come 31 May 2027, in a mere 2 years and 3 months.
Let's grab a pint and gander back at his origins that lie in Birmingham City back in July 2010. Busy lad, he made 46 appearances in the 2012-2013 season before he was loaned out to the charmingly lower-league Cheltenham Town in September of 2011. Reality check, he capped a comparatively modest 24 appearances. Butland was ricocheted back to Birmingham in April 2012, repeating his marathon of appearances with another 46 showings under his belt.
The summer of 2013 swayed him over to Stoke City where he managed just a trifling three appearances in his debut season. Overall, during his musical-chairs trip throughout English football grounds, Butland was fringing the pitches of Barnsley, Leeds United, Derby and Stoke with a total of 27 loaned-out league matches. Thereafter, he beat off the cobwebs by appearing for Stoke City over six seasons, totalling 157 showings.
By the time the pumpkins arrived in October 2020, young Jack had made the venture to Crystal Palace, handing Stoke around £1m on his way out. Palace however, for reasons known perhaps only to seagulls pecking at the grass, allowed him just a paltry ten appearances over two seasons.
Come 2023, Butland found himself being passed from Palace to Manchester United on loan, before eventually, he escaped the relentless drizzle of England to feel the warm embrace of the Glasgow Rangers in July 2023. Since then, he has tallied 62 league appearances for the Rangers. He also made notable performances on the grand stages of the League Cup, Europa League, Champions League Qualifiers and the Europa League again for Rangers, with 24 starts in total.
That's Jack, the ever-wandering Butland for you. If one could add up all the miles he's covered, it wouldn't be far off the distance from here to the Moon. So here's to the lad, and wherever he may find himself next!
