Holding role

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Nicky Butt

Nicholas "Nicky" Butt (born January 21, 1975 in Gorton, Manchester) is an English footballer who currently plays for Newcastle United. Butt is primarily a defensive midfielder, and a former England international.

Club career

Manchester United

He began his career at Manchester United as an important part of their youth team before turning professional in 1993. His youth teammates admitted that Butt was the best player among them, including the likes of David Beckham and Ryan Giggs. He became a regular player in the Manchester United first team from 1994-95 onwards. His opportunities were somewhat limited by the presence of Roy Keane and Paul Scholes, but nevertheless he collected many honours, including six Premiership titles, three FA Cups and one European Cup - these included the "treble" of the Premier League title, FA Cup and European Cup in 1999.

By the early 2000s, his first-team chances at Manchester United further restricted by a number of new midfield acquisitions, Butt handed in a transfer request in January 2004, but turned down a proposed move to Birmingham City during the January transfer window. He was signed by Bobby Robson for Newcastle United in July 2004 for a fee of £2 million. He was seen as a replacement for the veteran Gary Speed, who had moved to Bolton Wanderers.

Newcastle United

Butt had a disappointing and injury-marred 2004-05 season, prompting the then Newcastle manager Graeme Souness to sign Senegalese midfielder Amdy Faye in January 2005. Despite a promising start, the fans turned on Butt after the 4-1 defeat against Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final, in which he showed little effort and, according to some fans, assisted his former team to victory. The acquisition of Scott Parker and Emre in the summer of 2005 pushed Butt further down the pecking order, and his move to Birmingham City (managed by former Manchester United team-mate Steve Bruce) on a season-long loan was announced on August 3 2005.

However, on February 13 2006, Butt walked out on his manager and former Manchester United team mate Steve Bruce, after finding out Bruce placed his son Alex Bruce in the squad ahead of himself, and was later fined two weeks wages, which was £80,000 (€115,800). After Birmingham were relegated from the Premier League, Butt returned to Newcastle who were being managed by Glenn Roeder.

Although not an instant fan favourite at St. James' Park, Butt won over some fans with two goals scored through headers in a pre-season friendly against Villarreal CF. There was some speculation that newly-appointed Sunderland manager Roy Keane would try to sign his former Manchester United midfield partner. However, due to the lack of back-up midfielders at Newcastle and his good pre-season form, Butt remained at Newcastle.

During the 2006-2007 season, Butt was much more involved in the first team at Newcastle, playing in the holding role which allowed the likes of Scott Parker and Emre to go forward. On January 14 2007, Butt scored his first Newcastle goal in over 2 years when he scored the winner against Tottenham in a 3-2 victory. His good form that season continued, as on April 9 2007, Butt won the man of the match award for his performance against Arsenal.

With former Newcastle captain Scott Parker having moved to West Ham United, Butt continued to play a big part in Newcastle's 07/08 Premier League campaign. On December 20 2007, he penned a new contract keeping him at the club until the end of next season. He is now vice captain.

International career

He won his first England cap during the 1997-98 season and became a squad regular, providing reliable backup for the central midfield positions. An injury to first choice midfielder Steven Gerrard before the 2002 FIFA World Cup gave Butt his chance in the starting line-up alongside Manchester United teammates David Beckham and Paul Scholes. He was named "the best player in the tournament" by Brazilian legend Pelé, a compliment to his performance in the unattractive holding role.

After the World Cup he returned to his role as a squad player, providing experienced cover for the first-choice midfield pairing of Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard. He was selected for the 2004 European Championships but missed the tournament through injury. His most recent international appearance was in a friendly against Spain on 17 November 2004. In total he has appeared 39 times for England.

Career statistics

|- |1992-93||rowspan="12"|Manchester United||rowspan="12"|Premier League||1||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||1||0 |- |1993-94||1||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||1||0 |- |1994-95||22||1||0||0||0||0||0||0||22||1 |- |1995-96||32||2||7||1||0||0||2||0||41||3 |- |1996-97||26||5||0||0||0||0||9||0||35||5 |- |1997-98||33||3||1||0||0||0||7||0||41||3 |- |1998-99||31||2||5||0||2||0||8||0||46||2 |- |1999-00||32||3||0||0||0||0||6||0||38||3 |- |2000-01||28||3||2||0||0||0||11||1||41||4 |- |2001-02||25||1||2||0||0||0||9||0||36||1 |- |2002-03||18||0||2||0||1||0||8||0||29||0 |- |2003-04||21||1||5||0||2||0||5||1||33||2 |- |2004-05||rowspan="2"|Newcastle United||rowspan="2"|Premier League||18||1||2||0||1||0||7||0||28||1 |- |2005-06||0||0||0||0||0||0||2||0||2||0 |- |2005-06||Birmingham City||Premier League||24||3||2||0||3||0||0||0||29||3 |- |2006-07||rowspan="3"|Newcastle United||rowspan="3"|Premier League||31||1||2||0||2||0||12||0||47||1 |- |2007-08||35||3||2||0||2||0||0||0||39||3 |- |2008-09||7||0||0||0||2||0||0||0||9||0385||29||32||1||15||0||86||2||518||32385||29||32||1||15||0||86||2||518||32 |}