Jeff Butler (8 January 1934 – 22 April 2017) was an English football manager who coached in Africa during the 1980s and 1990s, winning four Zambian and four South African league titles.

Jeff Butler was born on 8 January 1934.^[1] He married Valerie c. 1965.^[2] During his coaching career he claimed to have had a long professional playing career in the English Football League, but this was later proved to be false.^[3]

He coached the Nkana Red Devils to their first four Zambia Super League titles in 1982, 1983, 1985 and 1986.^[4] He also coached the Zambia national team in 1984.^[5] He then coached Egyptian club Al Ahly.^[6]

Butler went on to coach South African club Kaizer Chiefs on four separate occasions between 1988 and 1996.^[7] Chairman Kaizer Motaung later recalled that Butler was in Cyprus at the time he recruited him.^[7] The club were struggling at the time of his arrival, and Butler instigated "a massive shake-up" by letting go of the club's ageing stars in favour of young talent.^[1] In the 1988 they won the JPS Knockout Cup.^[8] Chiefs went on to win the NSL First Division title in 1989, 1991 and 1992; the BP Top Eight Cup in 1989, 1991 and 1992; the Ohlsson's Challenge in 1989; and the Telkom Charity Cup in 1988 and 1989.^[7][1] He won domestic trebles in 1991 and 1992.^[1] He narrowly missed out on winning quadruple in 1992 after losing the Coca-Cola Cup (Telkom Knockout) final to AmaZulu.^[1] After one treble he told his players "Don’t think you won the World Cup. You must come back next year and win all those trophies again.”^[9] Striker Fani Madida won the 1991 National Soccer League Golden Boot award after scoring 34 goals in all competitions, and said that "if I'm not mistaken, we went [17 successive games] unbeaten [in 1991/92] and that was never heard of before and no coach in South Africa has ever matched that record".^[10] Butler later won a league title with Mamelodi Sundowns in 1993.^[11][12] Phil Masinga and Daniel Mudau had a highly successful strike partnership and Masinga won a transfer to English Premier League club Leeds United.^[13]

Butler briefly coached the South Africa national football team in 1992, the nation's first coach following their readmission to FIFA after the ending of apartheid, but never took charge of a game.^[1] He was quickly removed from the position after it was revealed that he had lied about his history, passing off the similarly named Geoff Butler's playing career as his own.^[14][3] He returned to the Kaizer Chiefs and after leaving in 1996 he was persuaded to return to coach at the club's academy.^[1] Defender Johannes Mudau described him as "a very strict coach, while on the other hand he allowed players to display their skills and talent... a very friendly person, he was a motivator and confident builder".^[15] However rival coach Cavin Johnson said that "he was an average Englishman. He was fake to me, he was completely fake".^[14]

Butler retired to Spain, and then returned to England before he died after a long illness on 22 April 2017.^[1][2] He was survived by Valerie, his wife of 52 years, and four children.^[1]

A minute's silence was observed at the Kaizer Chiefs next match, against SuperSport United at the FNB Stadium.^[16] His three sons – John, Mike and Tim – went on to attend a Soweto Derby match against the Orlando Pirates, and went on to say that "we felt closer to our father as a result".^[12] FIFA president Gianni Infantino wrote a letter of condolences to South African Football Association president Danny Jordaan.^[17]

Nkana Red Devils^[4]

• Zambia Super League: 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986

Kaizer Chiefs^[1]

• NSL First Division: 1989, 1991, 1992
• Knockout Cup: 1988, 1989
• BP Top Eight Cup: 1989, 1991, 1992
• Telkom Charity Cup: 1989, 1996
• Ohlsson's Challenge: 1989
• Nedbank Cup: 1992

Mamelodi Sundowns^[18]

• NSL First Division: 1993