Lancashire have not offered Anderson a new contract for 2027, bringing to an end the England legend's career at his boyhood club. Anderson first represented Lancashire in 2001, and has represented the county in both red- and white-ball cricket since his England career ended in 2024. He was named captain of their County Championship side for the 2026 summer, and claimed 50 wickets at 17.68.

However, Lancashire endured a dismal red-ball season, finishing second from bottom in the Division Two standing, and going 11 consecutive matches without a win. The club recently announced that they had hired Paul Farbrace as their new director of cricket, alongside Richard Kenyon as their new chief executive, as they look to rebuild over the winter.

Speaking on Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast, Butcher empathised with Lancashire's predicament: "I completely understand it [releasing Anderson] from the point of view of, Lancashire finishing second from bottom in the second division and needing to literally start from scratch."

"Paul Farbrace has looked at it and gone, ‘do you know what? Sooner or later there will be no Jimmy, we can’t bat, we can’t take wickets other than him, we need to start again and now is a great time to start. Expectations will be extraordinarily low, Jimmy has been absolutely amazing, we hope that someone else will snap him up – which I have a feeling somebody might – but it’s time for us to draw a line under that period and start again’.

"Unfortunately, that’s professional sport. Jimmy’s not going to like it, lots of fans won’t like it. But hopefully, Lancashire fans might understand it in about five or six years time."

Anderson, who will turn 45 next year, stopped short of announcing his retirement from professional cricket in a statement released on social media: "I've supported Lancashire since I was [a] kid, and so to get to play for them for 25 years was a dream come true. I have always found it special walking out to play at Old Trafford and have some incredible memories of doing so including the honour of being captain – if it was up to me it wouldn't have ended like this, but I wish the players and fans all the best for the future."

Several other counties are also reportedly interested in signing Anderson, who is England's leading Test match wicket-taker and has 1,193 first class wickets to his name.

"I’m not surprised, and I’m also not surprised by Jimmy’s reaction," said Butcher. "Obviously [he has been] man and boy at Lancashire, 50 wickets at 17 or something in the Championship [last year] so the fact that they finished second from bottom last year wasn’t down to him, or it wasn’t down to his performances with the ball."

Anderson's departure was reportedly discussed at a meeting between members and club officials this week, with the club reportedly exploring organising a farewell celebration of Anderson's career.

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