“But it is still the wrong thing to do. What if he gets a blood clot? That’s why there are protocols in place and the medical staff have to be the ones to decide.”

Butcher’s situation was even worse than he admitted at the time – even to the club doctor at Rangers.

He said: “At training two days later, manager Graeme Souness, left, looked at cut and said, ‘Well done, but you’re playing tomorrow’.

“I felt really sleepy and went home to bed at 2pm. I slept till 10am the following morning.

“I got up, played, and beat Aberdeen. Now realise how stupid I had been. When your head meets a hard object you get brain trauma – the brain rattles around.