Mildenhall Town boss Phil Weavers pays tribute to departing captain Luke Butcher and reflects on narrow defeat to Bury Town

‘He’ll be a hole that’s impossible to fill’ – that’s how Mildenhall Town boss Phil Weavers has described the prospect of seeing his captain Luke Butcher depart after the club’s largely satisfying return to Step 4.

Having kept them in the Pitching In Isthmian League North Division with little drama following last season’s title-winning campaign, the towering defender will play his last competitive game for ‘Hall as they host fourth-placed Waltham Abbey on Saturday (3pm) when they look to seal a 15th-placed finish.

But after a decade of service at Recreation Way, Butcher will also get the honour of putting that armband back on again for his testimonial in the summer.

With his time having seen him lift two Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division titles – the other in 2016/17 under Dean Greygoose – it has been decided that giving him a half on each of those re-assembled sides on a game set to be played on Sunday, June 29 will be a fitting farewell.

Following Easter Monday’s 2-1 defeat at Bury Town – which saw Jarid Robson’s fifth-minute penalty cancelled out by Taylor Parr’s 19th-minute header before Cemal Ramadan eventually took advantage of a keeper-and-defender mix-up to chip home a 70th-minute winner – Weavers confirmed the news, saying: “This is his 10th year, so he's earned his testimonial which we'll be having in the summer. (He won) two league titles at Step 5, two cup wins at Step 5.

“I think a big part of him probably wanted to leave last season when we won the league. It's obviously very tempting to go out on the high, but such is the man I think he had regrets the last time that Mildenhall were at this level. He wanted to stay and make sure that he did all he could to keep us at the level, which he's done.

“He could quite easily play on. He's 37 years old, same age as me. He's been outstanding this season.

“These things come down to timing. Ten years, keeping us in the league. He's got a young child and he's got another one on the way.

“He'll be a hole that is impossible to fill. The word servant doesn't do it justice.”

He added: “We owe him a performance in the last game of the season, if no one else.”

Another player set to depart after the weekend is striker Olly Hughes, the striker having been denied his home swansong after going to hospital during Monday’s game with what has been confirmed as a broken jaw after taking an elbow to the face, despite not gaining a free kick.

“Fingers crossed he’s okay,” Weavers had said in the wake of the match.

“Obviously losing him for next season is a blow as well because he's been great.

“Look, I put winning the league down to signing Oly Hughes on his own. Not just because of his ability on the pitch, but he held me to account.

“He had a pick of clubs, and he chose Mildenhall and me because he felt we were the best option to win it, which kind of put pressure on me to win it. It kept me honest.

“And again, similar to Butch, he could have gone anywhere in the summer and played a lot more than he has.

“Testament to the man. Again, he's got his own motivations, but probably one of them is loyalty to me.

“I've had to call in some favours since I've been manager here, and I've not been let down.”

Following Saturday’s 1-0 home loss to Witham Town, Weavers hailed his side’s display to push second-placed Bury all the way on Monday as ‘a monumental effort’ that he felt showed they are finishing lower than they should have done in the table.

“I think we were predicted to go down at the start of the year,” he said.

“Naturally, we've probably exceeded some expectations. Certainly not internally. We won the league below by 15 points. We were clearly better than that level.

“We've been more than competitive. I'd say we're out of position.

“Today's a good example where we've fallen short on so many occasions. We've given a really good account of ourselves and I was happy with the performance.”