The 28-year-old England goalkeeper arrived at Selhurst Park in October 2020 from Stoke City, signing a three year deal.
His debut came in the narrow 1-0 FA Cup defeat against Wolverhampton Wanderers, where he made an acrobatic point-blank save against Leander Dendoncker.
Reflecting on his time so far at Palace, he states that “it’s been a new direction and a change that [he] needed” and that he felt “back to [his] best.”
Butland, an experienced international who was handed his England debut by Roy Hodgson, praised the “GK Union [Goalkeepers’ Union]” at Palace, adding that they “make it easy to be at your best and enjoy it.”
Butland goes on to praise Palace’s current goalkeeping setup and coach Dean Kiely, adding that “it kind of breeds, you know, greatness out of everyone and you can push each other.”
He elaborates on his arrival at Palace being a “change [he] really needed, one that [he] didn’t necessarily envision a few years back.” This comes after sustaining an injury during his final few months of his seven years at Stoke City.
“I felt six inches taller [coming] through the door at Palace and [I] just felt so full of energy, life, and ready to go and [I] just felt like the 'keeper I was, you know, three or four [seasons] ago.”
Former England international and fellow goalkeeper David James likened Butland’s move from Stoke to Palace as his move from Liverpool to Aston Villa - “joining a new world.”
James goes on to describe Butland as “very analytical, very capable, conscious and competent, so [he] knows how good he can be” from the time the two first met at Bristol City's Ashton Gate.
Butland was open while discussing the end to his time at Stoke, explaining the frustration he felt while injured.
“I tweaked my medial and ended up playing through it strapped up and I just couldn't, for the life of me, just didn't feel sharp, didn't feel like I was with it and it was quite disheartening for a while.”
“I was struggling to perform. It wasn't one or two games. I'd never gone a game back to back and had mistakes and it wasn't even the same thing, it was like - wrong decision to come out, then it was a technical handling error… I was not at my best.”
This struggle and fight with injury and form is what led Butland out of the rut he was in and Palace were the “light at the end of the tunnel.”
“It was quite disheartening for a while because I was searching for that magical thing, and [I have] to say it was moving the club that kind of did it. I was lucky and fortunate in a way that Palace believed in me.”
James likened Butland’s comeback to his own: “He's still very young now and the beauty of it is, and I say through experience having been through that process and coming out of it the other side, is that you carry on.
“You play the way you're capable, then people forget about it or just say it will be an experience that Jack Butland had on his rise through his career.”
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