Jack Butland

Let me tell you a story. A young lad, born in Bristol on 10th March 1993, decides to play the beautiful
game. He starts with the local Jamie Shore Academy and moves to Birmingham at the age of 14. He commutes by train for three-times-a-week training session and completes him schoolwork en route.
Here he is graced with the Young Player of The Year Award for the year 2009-10. He makes it to all of
England’s national youth teams and is in the winning squad of the U-17 2010 Euro Championships.
He understands that playing regular matches will keep him in good shape and so he moves to a
League 2 club on loan just to gain more match practice. Playing in a particular game at Cheltenham
Town, he is watched by no less than 52 scouts. He is the first choice goal keeper for Team Great
Britain in the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Still wondering what is so special about this kid?

Well for starters, he is the youngest goalkeeper for the England National Squad at 19 years and 158
days, thrashing the previous 124 year old record by 64 days. And he achieved all this even before
playing for any of the top three divisions in England.

Meet Jack Butland, a star in the making. At 19 years his road to glory is attributed to a level head,
maturity well above his years and a lot of determination shown in front of the goal.

He decided to get regular games for the U-21 team rather than warming the bench in the senior
English Squad. He has shown great skills at the top level making him a potentially potent weapon in
the English armoury.

Debuted in 2011 while on loan, he ended his spell with 7 clean sheets from 12 matches. A 6 million
euros bid was made for him which Birmingham City declined saying it would take a “crazy” offer for
him to be sold.

No matter where he goes, great expectations await and hopefully his promising talents will see him through.

Great things are waiting for him just around the corner. We wish him all the best