Luton Town's Jacob Butterfield on 'tough' Sheffield Wednesday loan spell ahead of Hillsborough return

The former Huddersfield and Derby man, who is busy rebuilding his reputation at Kenilworth Road after failing to impress during loan spells at Wednesday and Bradford City, said that changes in manager were a factor in his disappointing showing.

Asked whether he enjoyed his time at S6, he told The Lutonian: “Not really. It was tough. I know the quality they’ve got in that squad.

“I went there after they’d been in the play-offs in the last two years. The expectation was automatic promotion. They’d spent a lot of money, had a lot of quality in squad and things just didn’t work out.”

We asked a Luton Town writer what Sheffield Wednesday fans should expect from the Hatters

Now 29, Bradford-born Butterfield was the subject of a £5m transfer from Huddersfield to Derby in 2015 and despite being an ever-present for the Rams, was shipped out on loan to Hillsborough just a few matches into the 2017/18 season.

There was much excitement around his arrival in Sheffield, but his Wednesday career never got going as Sam Winnall moved in the opposite direction.

Butterfield said of the spell: “Football is never that easy. Carvalhal was the manager and things turned a bit sour there. He ended up leaving for Swansea and we just never got it back together with the new manager and ended up in a real disappointing season.

“That was a tough year for me, personally, playing on loan with different managers, different systems, in a club that was having a tough time, but I learnt a lot from that.”

It is at Luton that Butterfield now calls home after he reached a mutual agreement with Derby to terminate his contract.