Jack Butland says he’s raring to face former club Stoke City in the FA Cup on Tuesday night after "forgetting to believe” in himself at the end of his time with the Potters.
The 28-year-old spent seven years at the bet365 Stadium and made 168 appearances for the club, winning the fans’ player of the season award twice during his time there before leaving to join Crystal Palace in 2020.
But his final campaign at Stoke ended up being the most challenging of his career as he suffered a loss in form during the early months of the campaign that twice saw him lose his shirt to Adam Federici.
It wasn’t until current boss Michael O’Neill joined as manager in November - with the Potters rooted to the bottom of the table - that Butland managed to force his way back into contention.
“It was frustrating as hell - I hated every minute of not playing,” Butland revealed in Crystal Palace’s matchday programme vs West Ham earlier in the season.
“But the benefit for the team at that point was me not playing. That was the hardest thing for me to swallow.
“During those months I ended up joining Palace it just occurred to me: I’ll always have the talent and ability - I still do - but I’d forgotten to believe in myself, had got myself in a spiral of not believing what was going on, not wanting to accept I wasn’t playing well.”
Things changed for Butland when he was got the chance to head back to the Premier League with Palace and reunite with Roy Hodgson, who gave him his England debut in 2012.
He has since played deputy to Spaniard Vicente Guaita but has stepped in on several occasions this season in both the Premier League and FA Cup to perform when needed.
“The minute I came to Palace, it lifted a lot of stress,” said Butland. “I did immediately feel at home because I knew a lot of players here – I knew the management and goalie coach.
“There were a lot of people I knew, so I settled in really quick and felt back to my best really quickly. I do certainly feel I am back at my best, and now I am getting the chances to show people that.”
There are few better ways for Butland to prove he’s back to his best than with a good performance against the Potters on Tuesday night, with the Eagles eyeing up a place in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
Patrick Vieira named strong teams against Millwall and Hartlepool United earlier in the competition and will likely do the same against Stoke, with Butland set to continue between the sticks as he did in the previous two rounds.
“I am looking forward to it – it will be great,” he added. “It will be great to play against Stoke and see some ex-team-mates and staff members I spent a long time with.
“We are looking to go on a cup run and keep that going. I want us to win, but it will be good from a personal note to see some old faces.
“I had a couple of semi-finals with Stoke a few years back, beating Chelsea along the way, so I do know what that feeling is like to do well in a cup competition. That is certainly what we are planning to do here.
“It is a really important game, one that despite what we are trying to achieve in the Premier League we are all desperate to win, so I am sure we will be strong. We all know the FA Cup is special.
"We are looking forward to it and hopefully getting a win to put ourselves in the hat for the next round.”
