Let's take a moment to drum up an introduction to Jack Butland, a name most football followers in England and now Scotland are familiar with. This 6ft 5in (1.96m) goliath of a keeper, tipping the scales at 14st 11lb (94kg), was born on March 10, 1993, in a land far south of the Scottish border, in England, to be precise. The lad, now 32, currently pulls on the #1 jersey for Rangers. Industrious chap, wouldn't you say?
Our friend Butland also had the honours of defending the Great Britain net. His current market value, according to the folks at Transfermarkt, is approximately £1.3m (€1.5m). Not exactly pocket change for average Joes like us, is it?
Butland's footballing journey commenced in July 2010, with him joining Birmingham City in the Championship in England. Here, in the 2012-2013 season, the lad made himself right at home with a non-too-shabby 46 first team appearances in league matches. The following season, he was loaned out to Cheltenham Town in League Two, where he comfortably wracked up 24 first-team appearances in his debut season. But his time there was limited, and by April 2012, Butland was back in Birmingham City again.
It was in July 2013 that Butland moved from Birmingham to Stoke City for what seemed an astronomical fee of £3.5m. Stoke City wasn't a bed of roses for the youngster, though. To get some playing time, he spent parts of the 2013-2014 season on loan at Barnsley and Leeds United, before another brief sojourn to Derby County in October 2014. Throughout all these musical chair games, Stoke City remained his main hub.
Career-wise, things took another turn when he transferred to Crystal Palace in October 2020 for a humbler fee of £1m. At Palace, he made a grand total of ten first team appearances over two seasons. Not the stuff footballing dreams are made of, is it?
Now, this is where it gets interesting for our Scottish readers. In July 2023, Butland took a bold step, crossing the border into Scotland to wear the Rangers jersey. Since then, he has made 38, 28 and 19 first team appearances in his first three seasons respectively. The lad's been busy in the current 2025-2026 season, participating in League Cup and Europa League fixtures for Rangers. An interesting wee journey, I'm sure you'll agree.
