Butterworth's boot on other foot

THE last time Darlington won at Hartlepool United's Victoria Park, Ian Butterworth was showered with coins. This afternoon he's hoping to be covered in praise from the same set of supporters.

Butterworth was assistant manager at Darlington on a fiery day in May 2000, when the sides met in the Division Three play-offs. The Darlington bench was under fire from the home crowd, with manager David Hodgson claiming he was struck by a 50p coin.

"That day was intense, very much so. I think I picked up about £3.60 in loose coins on the touchline,'' joked Butterworth.

Today, as the sides meet in Football League action for the first time since March 2003, he's in the same role but on the opposite side, as Danny Wilson's right-hand man.

But there's another common denominator missing this afternoon.

A Hartlepool-Darlington game without David Hodgson is like Liverpool taking on a Manchester United side without Gary Neville or El Hadj Diouf missing from the Bolton team taking on, well, anybody away from the Reebok Stadium.

The pantomime villain according to one group, lauded and revered on the other side of the great divide.

In Hodgson's place in the visiting dug-out, in temporary charge of Quakers and hoping to do his chances of getting the manager's job on a permanent basis the world of good, is Martin Gray.

Ironically, he was signed by Hodgson and Butterworth in 1999 for their assault on Division Three, which ended on a rainy night at Wembley, via the highs of the play-off semi-finals.

And if the derby passion stoked by Hodgson is missing today, there's a few in the Quakers camp, like Gray, to get it roaring again.

"Martin Gray was one of the players we signed when I was at Darlington," said Butterworth. "He did very well and was an important signing for us.

"He's a competitive player and loves these games. I'm sure, as a manager, he will have them fired up. But we will be ready and are looking forward to it.

"David Hodgson enjoyed the games, very much so. He's a good mate and I speak to him regularly still - we had planned that whoever lost was buying dinner on Saturday night.

"That's all changed now and that's football, players and managers move on. It's been well documented what has gone on and it's sad. He's got a little battle now to clear his name.

"Of course, he's left the club before and that was in circumstances not too dissimilar to these.

"You can look back and smile at it now. Looking back you can see the signs of what was coming. We had a very different sort of chairman in charge, but we did have a lot of happy times there.''

There's little doubt that Quakers shouldn't have even had to contemplate the play-offs that season, never mind negotiate them.

Losing 2-0 at Victoria Park (Sam Shilton and Lee Fitzpatrick on target in front of just 3,957) and at Lincoln in the space of three days in October 1999 saw Quakers slip to seventh. That was the lowest point reached and they looked certainties for a promotion spot until a home draw with Rotherham on April Fool's Day started a run which was no laughing matter.

No wins in seven - including a home draw with Pools on Easter Monday - meant a fourth-placed finish.

"That season ended in disappointment at Wembley, but it should have been very different,'' admitted Butterworth. "We deserved to be in the top three.

"I think we kept 23 clean sheets with the back four we had - Colly (Andy Collett) in goal and good players in front of him. We got players in from a higher level and it nearly worked.

"Swansea, Rotherham and Northampton went up, but we know it should have been us. We just couldn't quite get over the finishing line when we had the chance.

"We had no luck in the run in and we had no luck at Wembley. But that's gone and my aim now is to make sure Hartlepool get in the top three.''

Both sides are looking at the play-off zone from outside today but both know they should be entrenched in the top seven.

Six years ago, it was a major achievement for Chris Turner's side to hit seventh spot.

Making the end-of-season knock-out was their achievement, progressing was asking too much. They had only avoided the drop to the Conference by the skin of their teeth just 12 months previously with the same bunch of players.

"The play-off games took the intensity to a different level,'' admitted Butterworth. "Hartlepool came up strong towards the end and got in there on the last day, Darlington were there all along and we were disappointed to be in the play-offs.

"But if we had anyone feeling it, facing Hartlepool meant there was something special about the occasion.

"I think, being honest, we fancied our chances with the first leg being at the Vic. We settled quite well and had players who were experienced and capable of handling pressure situations - Aspin, Tutill, Gabbiadini, Heaney.

"We had a good side, then it all went away. We reached the final and had a bit of bad luck against Peterborough because we had injuries on the night which affected us.

"It proved to be a turning point for the club and who would have thought that six years later I would be with Hartlepool and part of the set-up here? That's the sort of quirks thrown up within football.''

Following the traumas of relegation from League One last season, Pools' aim is simple - to get back up there - while Quakers strive to get out of the bottom division for the first time since 1992.

And Butterworth, who had a successful time at Cardiff City sandwiched between his spells in the North-East, is well placed to compare the sides he's been involved with.

"We've got a good set of lads here and we are focused,'' he said. "I think that this side at Hartlepool is similar to the Darlington side of 2000 - the real difference is a 20-goal-a-season man and we had one then in Gabbiadini. He would score goals for fun and all types of goals as well.

"Working with Hodgy was enjoyable. I feel sorry for what's happened there recently, I really do.

"But I enjoyed my second season there immensely. We had some players who were too good for the level we were at - Gabbiadini was one of them and Liddle another.

"He was wasting his time in that league. He could possibly have gone to a Championship side and done well, he was a quality player. Steve Tutill was a similar sort of mould to Micky Nelson - head on the block sort.''

He added: "This side here is capable of doing better than that side of 2000. There are some very good players here and we are trying to build them into something. We've got to get this team higher up the league table and we know that, really, we should be, but the reality is that we are not there.

"Consistency is the key and that's what we are looking for. Can we put six, seven, eight wins together? Can anyone do that in our league?

"If someone does - and hopefully it will be us - a run like that would get you into the top three.''

After witnessing - and being on the end of - the Pools v Quakers atmosphere, Butterworth knows what it's all about.

Don't expect him, however, to let it divert his focus. He'll let others do that.

"Everyone knows the importance of the games but we have to treat it, as the old cliche goes, as another game and we are looking for three points, just like Darlington will be,'' he said.

"I'm now seeing these derby games from both sides of the fence. I had a couple with Darlington last time, and they are always tense.

"I've had a lot of people come up to me in the town and tell me one thing - beat Darlington!

"That's great for the fans, they love it if you win. But I know it will be a difficult game.

"They are a decent side and have one or two decent players. I've watched them three times this season and have seen what they are capable of doing.

"But we know what it means to people. We dropped points to Stockport the other week and one bloke was saying how unlucky we were, then in the next breath it was 'just make sure you beat bloody Darlington' while he was pointing his finger at me!"