Danny Butterfield Interview

By: Jake Olley
Date: 23/04/2006

DANNY Butterfield left the Mariners at the end of the 2001/2002 season when Town were still in League One and Paul Groves was the manager. Danny went to Crystal Place in the same division, and the following year Town finished bottom.

How have you enjoyed your time at Palace and how does it compare to Grimsby?

It’s been good. I obviously left behind a lot of good friends at the time and a lot of people who had given me a chance in football. Down here, it's a much better club, it was a big part of my career and something that I needed to do.

It must have been a real sucker punch to lose the way you did last year in the top flight?

I think we did well over the course of the season. Looking back, there are always ifs and buts. I think you learn from it and hopefully we'll get back up there next season and give an even better account of ourselves than we did last season.

How have you enjoyed working with Iain Dowie?

It's been good. Ever since day one, he's brought a lot of intensity to the club. The training became a lot more intense. The lads were working a lot harder and I think that brought success so the boys continued to do it. I still think we can play better this season but obviously he's done a good job this year and hopefully we can get through the play-offs and on to the Premiership.

Personally, a frustrating year having to go through all the injuries?

Over the last two years I've been frustrated because I've never really been able to get together a good run of games. I try to stay upbeat. I try to keep going and hopefully my chances are coming up where I will stay injury-free for a long period of time.

You spent quite a few seasons at Grimsby, what would you say was your highlight at Town?

The year we got promoted through the play-offs and we also won the Auto Windscreen Shield the same year. The two visits to Wembley in such a short period of time, although I did not play in either of them, were good years. Most importantly, playing on a regular basis for three or four years was the main highlight.

There was a lot of speculation when you left. What was the situation in your opinion when you left and were you offered a new deal?

In the end, they offered me a deal on reduced terms, which opened up the chance of a free because they were not able to match my wage amount. It was frustrating to leave, but I can't complain with the way it has turned out for me. At the time, I did get a bit of bad press around Grimsby for not staying and them saying they had offered me a new contract when it was actually on reduced terms. There were a lot of players who weren't even in the team who were earning a lot more money than I was.

There were rumours that you had you heard of interest from Palace beforehand, can you clear this up for us?

I was just training on my own in the gym over the summer, and the boys had been back in pre-season for two or three days. I got a call from Grimsby asking why I hadn't been at training. Firstly, I didn't have a contract with them anymore, so if I was to go and get injured there was no insurance or anything, so I was just keeping it easy in the gym really. Then a call came from Palace and on the way down here there was interest from Cardiff as well. I think the game I played against Palace at Blundell Park maybe caught their eye.

You are classed as a hero by the Town fans. Do you have a message for them?

It's good to see that they are doing well. Realistically, they are a club for the division they are in now or the one above. I think the way the game has changed financially and the area goes against them because they do not get particularly good crowds. They've got good players, we've done it before because we were in the Championship before and hung around for a number of seasons. They are always going to get good young players, but unfortunately to keep the club going, they are going to have to sell them. I think the fans need to understand and get behind the young players that are there and hopefully they'll get the right results which pushes the club in the right direction.

And finally can you see yourself putting on their jersey again?

Why not? There's nothing to stop me from going back there because I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. There are still a lot of good people there. There's only one or two players still there that I played with. Hopefully, I will be playing at a high level for a number of years and if Grimsby are still in the lower leagues at the end of my career, then why not. Who's to say they won't be in the same league as me some year and I get to move there?

We'd also like to take this chance to thank Danny Butterfield who took time out from his busy schedule to do this interview for Town fans

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