Ian Butterworth

Butterworth was a central defender who started his career at Coventry City then joined Nottingham Forest as part of a deal that also took future England international Stuart Pearce to Forest from Coventry. In September 1986 he joined Norwich City on loan before signing for the club permanently for a fee of £160,000 the following month. He was a regular for eight years at Norwich in the centre of defence until knee injuries forced him to retire during the 1994–95 season. He played for the Canaries during what was arguably the finest part of their history so far. He helped them finish fifth in the league in his first season (a year after promotion), finish fourth and reach the FA Cup semi-finals in 1989, reach another FA Cup semi-final in 1992, finished a club best third in the new FA Premier League in 1993 and eliminate Bayern Munich from the UEFA Cup in his penultimate season. An attempt to resurrect his career at Norwich's non-league Norfolk neighbours King's Lynn failed and Ian moved to the US to play for the Colorado Rapids in the new MLS for 1996. Butterworth continued his career in Sweden with IK Brage (11 apps, 0 goals) and in September 1997 he became player-manager but was soon on his way back to England when he joined Stafford Rangers as a player. In the early part of 1998, he joined Cobh Ramblers as player-manager but had left within three months. This finally signalled the end of his career as a player. In May 1998, he joined Darlington as assistant manager but…

In May 1998, Butterworth joined Dave Hodgson's Darlington as Assistant Manager. They led Darlington to a Wembley appearance in the Division Two play-offs in 1999–2000 but in a shock move, Hodgson and Butterworth resigned from their jobs on 2 July 2000, with Hodgson immediately replaced by Gary Bennett. In October 2000, Butterworth was appointed as number 2 to Alan Cork at Cardiff City and this partnership was successful as Cardiff gained promotion to Division Two in April 2001. As assistant to Lennie Lawrance, he helped Cardiff into Division One in May 2003. On 3 September 2004, Cardiff sacked Butterworth and fitness coach Clive Goodyear. Bluebirds owner Sam Hammam said a change was needed to give manager Lennie Lawrence a "right-hand man who is a super coach, a bit of an animal". Hammam added: "Lennie is the right manager for Cardiff City, we will not change that. But maybe it's time to change things around." Early speculation linked former Wimbledon manager and current Watford coach Terry Burton with the role. In 2004, Norwich supporters voted Butterworth into the club's Hall of Fame. He had a stint as coach at Bristol Rovers and the FA before joining Hartlepool United as reserve team manager. He then worked for the Football Association, including a stint at the World Cup in Germany 2006 before joining Hartlepool as Reserve Team Manager in early July 2006. "It's a fantastic appointment for the club," Pools boss Danny Wilson told his club's website."I am sure he is going to…