LEAVING A LEGACY

JEFF BUTLER WAS A HUGELY SUCCESSFUL COACH IN THE DOMESTIC SCENE, DESPITE SOME CONTROVERSIES, AND IS AT NUMBER 5 IN OUR LIST OF BEST COACHES TO HAVE WORKED IN SOUTH AFRICAN FOOTBALL

- By Mark Gleeson

Jeff Butler was the first coach to win four South African league titles and took a further seven cup trophies but remains something of an enigma with a bizarre backstory.

Butler, who died aged 83 in 2017, had four separate spells as coach at Kaizer Chiefs and also took Mamelodi Sundowns to the league championship but his legacy is clouded by the falsification of his CV where he took the identity of another footballer to claim a playing career that was not his.

Butler claimed to have played at Norwich City and Bournemouth, masquerading as Geoff Butler, who was no relation to Butler, and who had a successful career in the English league for more than 400 games.

This was unmasked when defender Billy Hughes came to play at Durban City. Hughes had been Geoff Butler's best man at his wedding and was aghast to find another Butler claiming to be a Norwich City legend.

But while Jeff Butler seemingly had no playing background, he did build a name for himself in coaching on the African continent.

He was appointed as the first ever South Africa national team coach in 1992, months out from the country reemerging into the international arena but forced to resign before the first game when his subterfuge was revealed.

Butler's early coaching history is unknown but he arrived in Zambia in 1980 to take up the reigns as coach of Rhokana United that would later change to Nkana Red Devils and now Nkana FC.

"Butler revolutionised how the beautiful game was going to be played in Wusakile - going forward," remembers Zambian football historian Peter Mmembe.