Richard Butcher has turned down an offer to join Yeovil Town on loan because he said that he wants to fight for his place in the first team at Boundary Park. The 24 year old, who fell foul of the Latics fans, has just returned from a one month load spell at Lincoln City where he had poured his heart out insisting that he wanted to remain with the Imps. A deal could not be struck with Lincoln so Butcher was resigned to return to Athletic and he is currently back in training with his old team-mates.Ronnie Moore said of the offer, “Yeovil came in and I was prepared to let Richard go there for a month, but he didn’t fancy it. I’ve spoken to the lad and he is hoping to get back in our side and show people he can play. He has obviously had a rough time, but he seems genuinely concerned that he should stay here for the time being. If his mind is right and I think he’s ready, he would come into the reckoning for our first team. That might not happen straight away. It would depend how I thought Richard would handle the occasion but he says he wants to fight for a place. It may be that he’s only here until the transfer window reopens, but there’s plenty of time until January.”
Butcher is contracted until June 2007 but it remains to be seen whether he will stay or not after the transfer window reopens in January. Fellow League One teams Bournemouth and Scunthorpe were also showing interest but that seems to have waned.