<|begin_of_text|><|begin_of_text|><|begin_of_text|>JACK BUTLAND feared his career could have been finished by his ankle injury.
The 24-year-old Stoke keeper revealed repeated setbacks sent him to some dark places as he wondered if he’d ever get back.
Butland spoke candidly about<wm> how football, basketball and basketball have helped him deal with the trauma.
"I think if you don't try anything you don't let the pain stay," he said. "That was an amazing feeling of freedom," said Butland when speaking about his return. "You don't feel bad for yourself - I did a lot of negative things."
In the previous days and weeks he'd never speak about his playing career again.
"My biggest fear for a lot of them was I wouldn’t know how to kick</wm> a football again - it was like I had to forget everything," he admits. "If I wasn