Guy Butters Interview

1. Do you keep in contact with any of the old players?

yeah, still keep in contact with barry ashby, he’s assistant manager at welling, who are in the same division as my team Eastleigh, so we ring each other to swap info on other teams.

Adie Pennock, who’s with pulis at stoke, to keep up to date with the gossip.

Vince Bartram, who is goalkeeper coach for Southamptons academy (they play at eastleighs ground).

Patto and Saundo now and again to see how they are doing.

Hessy’s watched the odd Eastleigh game and big Jim Stannard who i’ve seen at the Southampton academy games before he got the tin-tack.

2. Who did you most enjoy playing with the most?

I think it had to be the team that got to Wembley against Man City, especially the lads mentioned above.

That’s not to forget the rest of them.

We just had a great bunch of lads, the banter was spot on, and we could play decent football as well.

We used to play hard and party hard as well and all got on well with no big time charlies.

3. Best game you played in Gillingham.

The best game was probably the cup game against Sheff Wed.

The whole game was special and some cracking goals as well.

Obviously the play off win versus Wigan was up there and it cetainly sparked off a mass piss up afterwards, but to beat two teams frm the premier league in the cup was a great achievement as well.

4. Highest point of your Gillingham days.

The highest point was probably the first 85 minutes of the man city game at Wembley.

we got everything spot on, the build up in the week was excellent, leaving no stone un turned.

The coach to the ground was timed to perfection, as was pulis holding us back in the changing room until he let us out to see the pitch before the game,just as man city were coming back down the tunnel was a great psychological victory.

we didn’t feel that we were going to be beat at all.

5. Lowest point of your Gillingham days.

Obviously the lowest point was what happened after that.

Still think we invited too much pressure on ourselves with the subs we made, and to this day, i don’t know where the extra time came from, but we should never have lost that game.

missing the penalty was crappy as well but we’d blown it by then.

6. What have you been doing since you’re playing days.

I currently work for Brighton and Hove Albion, partly scouting and partly doing community liaison stuff.

I’m also assistant manager at Eastleigh in the conference south under Richard hill!

7.Who was the toughest striker you came up against?

Toughest striker from my gills days was probably Paul Dickov who was a pest that never gave you any time on the ball.

Richard Cresswell had good movement as well and he’s just resigned for York.

Obviously people like Torre Andre Flo and Zola and George Weah from playing chelsea in the cup!

8.When you first started playing, what hopes of the highest levels you could reach would be.

I was very fortunate to start my career at spurs, and got into the first team at an early age, playing alongside Gazza, Waddle, Lineker etc so your going to look half decent playing alonside them.

That led to me playing for england u21′s, when i was 19 so the only thing i never actually done in my career that i wanted to was make it to the full England team.

However, i believe that if i’d done the same nowadays then i would have probably played, what with everyone resting and droppng out of squads! I would have liked to have played in a cup final as well, and was in the squad at portsmouth that lost the semi final against liverpool in 92/93.overall though, i cant grumble!!

9. Do you keep an eye on the Gillingham results, if so how do you think they are doing?

yeah, i always include them on my accumulator when i have a bet and in the main they have rarely let me down. i think they got promotion wrapped up now, and i hope they go on to be champions as they have been there all season.

I know martin Allen from our playing days at Portsmouth, and i know, as well as being a top bloke and manager, he wont let it slip.

10. What advice would you give to any youngster, just starting out in a career of football?

my advice to any youngster is to listen to what your being told.

Train hard and dont get sucked in to what other people are doing around you.

Be your own person, even if that means youve got to be single-minded to get to your aims.

I had to leave many a friend behind because they wanted to go pubbing and clubbing on a friday night or before a game.

plenty of time for that later.

11.How would you like to be remembered by the gills fans, for your time at the club?

I’d like to be remembered as someone who gave their all and tried his best, and i think i left the club in a better position than when i joined it.

Thats all you can ask for really, and i was also a founder member of the infamous ‘eggers’ alongside pennock and ashby.

12. How did it feel when the Rainham end fans applauded you ?

Its a great feeling being appreciated by you own fans and i like to think that i had a bit of rapport with certain sections of the Rainham end, and i got a nice reception when i played there for Brighton.

I actually broke the lettering on the front of the stand once when mucking about in training. i hit the ‘m’ on the end of it and it came crashing down, and when Adie Pennock scored his cracking own goal i remember joining in with the Rainham end when they all laughed!!

13. What memorabilia do you still have from the Gillingham days?

I’ve got it all, the play-off medal is in a frame on my living room wall.

I’ve got a framed photo in my dining room showing us celebrating beating Wigan on the pitch at Wembley.

A framed signed gills top is on the wall on my stairs.

Ive got all the champagne MOM bottles in my dining room and different trophies in a cabinet from my days there, in the loft ive got loads of kit as well

14.How was your brief spell into management ?

I was manager at Winchester City in the Wessex league for a couple of seasons before moving to Eastleigh and i loved it.

Being able to give players the benefit of my experience was brilliant, and to see it come off in a game, and improve a player was a highlight.

We got promotion in my second season and it was just as pleasurably as when i was a player.

You can read more at my blog which is http://thehouseoftheshoutingmen.wordpress.com/

 

Thanks......nice to get a personal perspective from the player rather than just a fan's eye view.