Sam Allardyce: "Nicky Butt is a competitive player and of course, you have to accept that at some stage of a season, he is going to be suspended by accumulating bookings.
Allardyce: 'We Take A Risk With Butt'!
"But I cannot stop Nicky Butt being as competitive as he is because that's a huge part of his game and it is a huge part of the game needed by a team to break up the opposition's attacks before they get to your defensive unit.
"He has been magnificent at that and really, really good in his position.
"We would like him to pop up with a goal or two more if that's possible to finish what has been for him what has been a good season up to now.
"Anybody serving a suspension or who gets an injury while the four African Nations players are away is going to be a big blow to us.
"You have got to take the rough with the smooth as a manager in the Premier League.
"It's a volatile world and it is more volatile this year than ever before.
"There is more and more speculation about everybody's position quicker than ever before because of the extra money that has come into it.
"We have seen many managers go very, very quickly. I have only been here seven months, and Steve Bruce is only just manager of Wigan.
"I played against Birmingham and Alex McLeish has only just got the manager's job, I have played against Sven-Goran Eriksson - he came in after me.
"It shows you the merry-go-round has hit the Premier League harder than ever before."