Butler Signs for Town

By: Rob Sedgwick
Date: 15/10/2007

GRIMSBY have signed Walsall striker Martin Butler initially on a 3 month loan and then on a permanent basis which will keep the 33-year-old forward at Blundell Park until the end of the 2008-2009 season.

Walsall placed Butler on the transfer list earlier this month after he was dropped from the side at the end of September. Seven years ago Reading paid £750K for the Dudley-born frontman, who at 5'11" is the right side of six foot for an Alan Buckley forward. Butler has scored 13 goals, including one this season, in 53 appearances for Walsall since joining the club in May 2006.

Butler started his career at Alan Buckley's former club Walsall, where he rose through the youth ranks but struggled to break into the first team and left to join Cambridge in the summer of 1997.

Butler's prolific goal scoring record at Cambridge (41 goals in 101 league starts) prompted Reading to pay £750K for him 2000, where he spent three years. A serious ligament injury midway though his time with the Royals meant Butler's form suffered and he eventually fell out of favour and joined Rotherham for just a fifth of the fee Reading paid.

In the summer of 2006 Butler returned home to his first club Walsall on a free transfer where many expected he would finish his career. However it wasn't to be and he was transfer listed by the Saddlers allowing Town to secure his signature this week and open a new chapter for the veteran striker.

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