Terry Butcher is on gardening leave from Hibernian following the decision last month to remove him as manager.

The club announced on June 10, two weeks after Butcher's side were relegated from the SPFL Premiership, that the Englishman had been "relieved of his duties" and have since appointed Alan Stubbs as head coach.

Butcher was just seven months into the three-year contract he signed when he arrived at Easter Road from Inverness Caledonian Thistle in November last year, alongside his assistant Maurice Malpas. Butcher has been linked with a return to management with the New Zealand national team, but it is understood both he and Malpas are still being paid by Hibs in accordance with their respective contracts.

Should Hibs seek to sever all ties with the pair officially, the club would have to pay up the remainder of their contracts. "I don't regret it [taking on the job] at all," Butcher said yesterday, speaking for the first time since departing Easter Road.

"I'm on gardening leave just now, the garden is magnificent and I shall be in the Chelsea flower show next year. I'm looking forward to that. I've been doing the garden, I've been enjoying the Suffolk air, I met George Burley - one of my colleagues at Ipswich - and he is not working too.

"We'll probably set up an ex-managers club somewhere. I live in Suffolk, my wife's parents and my own parents are alive and doing very well. I'll go and watch Ipswich play, I'll probably become a season-ticket holder. I've always wanted to do that."

He had his greatest success as a manager in Scotland - establishing Inverness in the top flight having first moved there in 2009 - but he believes that it is unlikely he will return north of the border. "I've done my time up there, I've done a lot of time up there; I think my visa finally ran out," he added. "I miss football to a certain degree but it's nice to look forward to a season without having any real pressure."