He'd started off in disastrous circumstances. One early appearance saw him come on as a substitute, yet within a minute he'd given away a penalty and was carried off injured. It could only get better from that point on.

There were accusations from some quarters that Butler was carried by Reeves. However, following Reeves big money move to Wimbledon, Butler saw his career flourish even more, stepping out of the shadows at long last and becoming an absolute rock at the back for Dale.

There was always talk of a big money move higher up the league, so it was to everyone's disappointment when he signed for Bury for £100,000. However, this turned out to be a wonderful move for him, as he was partly responsible for their rise up to the equivalent of the Championship.

Again, this resulted in more transfer speculation, which led to a £1,000,000 move to Sunderland. Whilst playing for Sunderland, he achieved promotion to the Premier League, and International Caps for his adopted country Eire, both of which have earned money for Dale through various sell on clauses as the money from the sale to Bury continued to trickle through.

After spells at Leeds United and Wolves, he returned to League Two with MK Dons and Chester City. With both of those sides, he proved to have dreadful games against Dale. He suffered a 5-0 hammering whilst with the Dons, and whilst playing for Chester he scored an own goal and made gestures to the away end as he let the banter get to him.

He was suspended from his position at Chester late in the 2007-8 season, only for the PFA to pressurise the Cestrians into withdrawing the suspension tag. There had been accusations that he'd acted unprofessionally as a Chester employee.