Just days after Southampton were ‘handed‘ an early Christmas present against us, they have given us something – our new assistant head coach.
We’ve gone for the Saints’ Academy loans manager, Danny Butterfield, who will take the place of QPR-bound Mike Garritty. The former Liverpool man left the club two weeks ago, and we’ve moved swiftly to ensure a replacement in the form of the Boston-born Butterfield.
He spent almost two decades playing professionally for a number of clubs, including Crystal Palace, Grimsby and Southampton, before moving into coaching in 2016. He was finished his playing days with Exeter City and later joined Paul Tisdale’s MK Dons to win promotion behind us in 2019. It will be his second stint working with MK, having previously been his assistant during their short stay at Macclesfield. As a player, he was a teammate of MK’s at Crystal Palace.
Butterfield was the subject of a great Neil Warnock story, although it bears little relevance to this news piece. Butterfield was a right back, but Warnock once started him up front after his wife had a dream, and he bagged a hat trick!
City’s director of football, Jez George, said: “This is a fantastic appointment for the club on several levels. Danny has previously worked with Mark and has a close relationship with him, but he also brings a wealth of expertise and experience to us from his previous roles at Southampton within their academy and loans department.
“He knows League One; he will help us in our recruitment processes and with the development pathways for our young homegrown players but most importantly, supporting Mark on a day-to-day basis with the coaching of the first team squad. We thank Southampton for their help and understanding, welcome Danny to Lincoln City and look forward to working with him.”