When injury derailed his playing career, former Arsenal youth and senior Spurs keeper Lee Butcher turned to the PFA to help him get on the right track…
LEE BUTCHER
Position: Goalkeeper
Born: 11 October 1988; London
Clubs: Arsenal. Spurs, Leyton Orient, Welling United, Tilbury
Going from football to working on the Underground is quite an unusual switch, how did it come about?
I did my ACL when I was playing for Leyton Orient in February 2012 and after I was out for 15 months they didn’t give me a new contract. I ended up having three operations on the knee. I went to Welling United. I had a house to pay for and I needed some income but I also needed another job. I was thinking about becoming a train driver, looked on the PFA website and saw a signalling course. I phoned Oshor [Williams] at the PFA and got on the course then eventually got a job contracting on the railways.
How did you juggle work and playing?
I was training Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and also doing nights. I ended up driving from the night shift to the training ground, sleeping in the car for an hour, waking up and going training, getting back home and falling asleep, waking up and going to work. That was my cycle. It was getting too much. Through meeting guys working for Transport for London I got a job in-house and eventually had to pack in football.
Night shift and football sounds like a tough mix…
When I was doing contracted work and playing football I was working Friday night into Saturday morning and then having to go and play. I remember the worst was having to play Grimsby. I got home from work, had about an hour’s kip and then had to get the coach to Grimsby. I was trying to sleep on the coach, which you never can. Then I played. It was horrible. I think we lost 1-0 but I can’t quite remember!
What do you do at work now?
I got onto the main course to become a technical officer, which means signing off the railways for the train to run the next morning – it’s a big job. I’d got back playing with Tilbury but quit because my mind was set on the main job basically. If I don’t progress in this job I’m not going to be able to go out and get another one and pay the bills.
Why this career path?
You think a bit about where the money is and I thought ‘train drivers earn a fair amount’. It was such luck to find the course on the PFA site – it was like it was meant to be. The PFA helped out so much. It was brilliant. It’s easy to liaise with Oshor.
Did the PFA help financially?
Yes. It was pretty black and white. You pay for the course, you pass it and then apply for funding from the Education Department. The PFA has always got so many different things to apply for on the website, trying to help people in my position. I would definitely advise guys to check on there.
Do you still want to drive trains?
To be fair what I am doing now pays well and I’m happy so I haven’t really thought about moving into train driving. I’m quite happy in what I have achieved. I can make little steps and get promotions, which is always good. It’s like when you’re a footballer – you always want to play higher up the ladder, to get that little bit more and I’ve transferred that over to this job. I want to get as high as possible to better myself.
How was the transition to working in a totally different environment?
It was quite weird to go into a proper workplace – I’d only known football from the age of five until I finished full time. It’s totally different. Unless you’ve been in the environment you can’t explain to people what it’s like in the changing room. It’s quite different being at the depot.
What’s the banter like?
Maybe sometimes you have to be a little bit more careful about what you say. In a football environment almost anything goes and the banter is so different. I miss the banter, having a laugh around the lads and the weekends going out. The main thing I miss is the winning side of it. Saturdays, going away, winning 1-0. There’s no feeling like it, really.
Why not try and stay in the game through coaching for example?
I didn’t feel it was for me. Sometimes it does come down to money. I needed a job that would pay, so I could pay my way, and in coaching it takes a long time before you get good money. In a few years time there may come a point where on a Saturday and Sundays I might do a bit of coaching. There’s nothing stopping me, but at the moment I want to establish myself and make sure I have a job and a contract.
Is that need to hit the ground running why you didn’t take an academic route?
I think so, yeah. I look back sometimes and wish I’d used the PFA more when I was at Arsenal and Tottenham. As a trainee I had all that time to do a course that the PFA would have helped with. If something happened, I’d have that to lean back on.
How difficult was it when you were released by Leyton Orient?
I had a girlfriend at the time who I had the house with. She had to support me when money wasn’t coming in. It was tough on the relationship and we eventually split up. I bought her out of the house and I wouldn’t have been able to without the new job and the PFA. Luckily enough I didn’t have children, because it must be hard for guys who have a family who are in my position.
Why didn’t you start looking when you were out injured?
To be fair my head was just not in it. All I could think about was trying to get back and playing football. Maybe I should have done something then to take my mind off the injury a bit, instead of leaving it to the last minute and having to rent my house out and go and live with my mum and dad. But that’s a life lesson learned.
For help and advice on preparing for the transition from football into a new career contact PFA Assistant Director of Education Oshor Williams on 0161 236 0637.
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