Oh, we are indeed privileged to be talking about the career of Jack Butland. Born 10 March 1993, currently swanning about at tender age of 32, our protagonist hails from England and carries out his days prancing about in goal for the illustrious Rangers. His hulking physique is rather imposing at 6ft 5in (1.96m), and he carries a weight of 14st 11lb (94kg), if one is interested in such trivial particulars. In his current sartorial disguise, he sports the number 1 jersey, although we're not entirely clear why the number matches the position. Apparently, our dear Butland has even gone about representing the Great Britain national team at some point of time.
According to the football boffins at Transfermarkt, this fine specimen has a market value of a rather modest £1.3m. Seems he didn't make the ranks of the Premier League crème de la crème, then.
Back in the day, in July 2010, one could find Butland at Birmingham City, jumping about in the Championship League. He then made 46 'first team appearances' in the 2012-2013 season.
Having tired of Birmingham by September 2011, he hightailed it over to Cheltenham Town, also in the Championship. He then put in 24 matches in the 2011-2012 season. Only to return to Birmingham City in April 2012 after his loan spell.
In July 2013, Butland was again on the move, this time to Stoke City, for the princely sum of £3.5m. For a couple of seasons, between 2013-2015, he only made a whopping total of six first team appearances. This then magically increased to 31, five, 35, 45, and 35 appearances in the consecutive seasons from 2015 to 2020.
Interwoven within this time, he swanned off on loan to Barnsley in the League One in September 2013, where he pulled the wool over our eyes playing for 13 matches in the 2013-2014 season before swiftly returning to Stoke.
His time in Stoke wasn't without further adventures, mind. He managed to sneak off to Leeds United in 2014, fooling everyone for a meagre 16 matches in the Premier League before returning to Stoke.
Butland popped over to Derby County again on loan in October 2014, returning to Stoke after playing six games for the former. In October 2020, he was bought by Crystal Palace for a mere million pounds. His appearances dwindled again, with only one appearance in the 2020-2021 season and nine in the following.
His time with Crystal Palace was brief. In January 2023, he was loaned to Manchester United. In July of the same year, Butland made his way all the way to the snowy north, joining Rangers in the Scottish Premiership. Since then, he has made an honourable 38, 28, and four first team appearances in the 2023-2026 seasons respectively. He's also blown off some steam in the Europa League 2023-2024 for Rangers with eight starts, and in the Champions League Qualifiers 2025-2026 with six starts.
So, there you have it. A keeper of many teams, and a darling of the loan system. Jack Butland, ladies and gentlemen. Worth every penny of that £1.3m. Maybe.
