Former Wigan defender recalls the time he took on Terry Butcher – and won

Follow us on Google Discover

Roman Golobart may not have accomplished too much in his brief stint in England but few can match him in the storytelling stakes.

Former Wigan Athletic defender Roman Golobart may not have made much of an impact on Englush football, but he has recalled to Yahoo! the time he took on famed hardman Terry Butcher and survived to tell the tale.

Butcher is not exactly known for his happy-go-lucky, Mr Nice persona. In fact, he is about as far from Roberto Martinez as it is possible to get. While the abiding memory is one of a blood-soaked shirt, wild eyes and claret-dyed bandage, the other is jiving exuberantly to Jason Derulo in a shirt almost as white as his teeth.

Then again, if we really want to compare the two, there is really only one man to turn to.

When Golobart arrived at Wigan Athletic from Espanyol as a humble teen, desperate to make his mark in the English game, he could hardly have found himself a better tutor. Martinez, after all, had travelled the same road, swapping Catalonia for Greater Manchester back in 1995.

What happened next, then, would certainly fall into the category of ‘culture shock’. Sent on loan to Inverness Caledonian Thistle, young Golobart found himself toe-to-toe with one of the most terrifying men in the history of the English game.

Remember Gary ‘Wacko’ Wackett, the wall-nutting captain from Mike Bassett: England Manager? Yeah, you are in the right ballpark.

It takes a brave man to engage in a battle with Butcher. It takes an even braver one to win. Golobart, however, did both.

“I didn’t train well or adapt well to Scottish football,” the 24-year-old, now playing for Real Murcia in the Spanish third division, recalled to Yahoo! “Butcher shouted at me in training one day. It was a monologue two inches from my face. He called me a ‘peanut’.

“I wanted to fight him but I wanted to be professional, to learn from him. He said I was going back to Wigan. A day later, I went to see him and told him I could not go back as a failure. He’d calmed and told me about pace and pressing.

“I started to adapt to British way. By end of December Inverness asked me to stay for six months more. I won the Young Player of the Year award.”

One day, Golobart will gather his grandkids round a fire and regale them with the tale. Oh yeah, and he will probably tell them about the time he made three Premier League appearances for Wigan, if he can fit it in.