Ten days earlier he had come on in the friendly against Mexico at Wembley to become England's newest cap. In doing so the South Manchester-born 22-year-old finally caught up with his peers in the vintage 1992 United youth team, Gary Neville and David Beckham. Of that group only Paul Scholes, whose progress has been stymied by the presence of Eric Cantona in his preferred role, has yet to receive full recognition.After a couple of early games Butt first made an impact in the United team in the 1994-95 season. The next year he assumed Paul Ince's No 8 shirt and position. His slender build and youthful features mask a spikiness of play and growing maturity in character.Apart from the odd outburst there has never been any doubt about his temperament.

Eric Harrison, United's long-serving youth coach, has said of Butt: "From his early days it was quite apparent that Nicky would not suffer with nerves. You never like to stick a label on youngsters but when I saw Nicky I could see he was a Bryan Robson-type player."He has always been slightly built and is one of the few kids who has stayed virtually the same weight from the day they came to the club at 15. But I was never concerned about his weight holding him back because of his size. He has proved he can hold his own against bigger and older players. He is like Keane and Ince - you can kick him from pillar to post and he still gets up for more."He also appears to have come through a mysterious illness that earlier this season left him suffering headaches and double vision during and after games.

The only area in which Butt has disappointed is goal-scoring. He was a regular scorer at youth and reserve level, breaking from midfield as against Dortmund, or heading in as in the Charity Shield against Newcastle. Yet he left Germany with a record of eight goals in 80 Premiership and European matches.The example of Ince and Steve McManaman suggests that goal-scoring is one of the hardest arts to master Yet Butt is improving. As well as the Charity Shield score, he had hit five goals in 22 Premiership matches this season before yesterday.

The return against Dortmund on 23 April, when Butt will have to assume the driving role of the suspended Keane, would be a good time to get his first in Europe.. Manchester United had a case for an extension to the season simply because sending out a team to play four matches in eight days seems no way to decide a Championship that should be about quality rather than quantity. They have less of a case, however, for what followed the Premiership board's rejection of that argument. The first reaction of the United chairman, Martin Edwards, to the Premiership's standpoint - a valid one, it has to be conceded, that rules cannot be changed mid-competition, and certainly not for one club - was that his club were considering legal action. Even assuming that the judicial process could move swiftly, when it remains more Bleak House than a house on fire, such a move would surely be counter- productive and ill-advised, with Uefa threatening to ban from European competition any club which invokes the law. It would also be contrary to the spirit of an agreement to which Manchester United are party.One of the strengths of the Premiership under its departing chief executive, Rick Parry, has been its unity, with previously diverse interests remarkably drawn together. An element that made it possible was the Chairmen's Charter and among its articles was a consent not to rush to law. However, the fact that Parry's replacement, Peter Leaver, is a QC says much about concerns in the game these days.Football has never looked especially good in court ever since the days when Don Revie sued the Football Association.