Jake Ashley Cassidy (born 9 February 1993) is a Welsh professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a forward for club Ossett United. He made well over 100 appearances in the Football League playing for

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic be ...

and Stevenage. He has represented Wales at both under-19 and under-21 levels.

Club career

Cassidy joined

Welsh Alliance The Welsh Alliance Football League (formerly the ''Lock Stock Welsh Alliance Football League'', for sponsorship reasons) was a association football, football league formed in 1984, and discontinued in 2020 following the reorganisation of the Wels ...

club

Llandudno Junction Llandudno Junction ( cy, Cyffordd Llandudno), once known as Tremarl, is a village in the county borough of Conwy, Wales. It is part of the ancient parish of Llangystennin, and it is located south of Llandudno. It adjoins Deganwy and is to the ...

aged 16, where he made an immediate impact in his first season, scoring 28 times in 32 appearances in the 2009–10 season. His debut season earned him a move to

Welsh Premier League The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. Prior to 20 ...

side Airbus UK Broughton in Summer 2010, and his impressive appearances for the club in a series of pre-season games saw him immediately depart for

. He signed a two-year deal (with an option for a third) with the

English Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

side for an undisclosed fee following a short trial. In March 2012, he moved on loan to

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

side

, in a move later extended to run until the end of the season. He made his professional debut on 17 March 2012 in a 1–1 draw at

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

, and scored in his second appearance, a 2–0 win at

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

. In total, he scored five times in ten appearances. Ahead of the 2012–13 season the striker returned for a second loan period with Tranmere Rovers, a move which lasted until January 2013. He scored his first goals of his return with a hat-trick against

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

in a 4–0 win on 1 September 2012 that put Tranmere top of the league. Cassidy was named the League One Player of the Month for September 2012, after scoring seven league goals during the month. He returned to Wolves after his loan spell ended having scored 11 goals in 26 appearances. Cassidy made his Wolves debut as a substitute in the club's

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

elimination at

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

on 5 January 2013, the final game of

Ståle Solbakken Ståle Solbakken (born 27 February 1968) is a Norwegian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of the Norway national team. During his playing career, Solbakken was named 1995 Norwegian midfielder of the year, and h ...

's tenure, before being selected to start Wolves' next league game by their new manager

Dean Saunders Dean Nicholas Saunders (born 21 June 1964) is a Welsh football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a striker in a career which lasted from 1982 until 2001. He played for Liverpool and Aston Villa in the 1990s, and s ...

. He made six league appearances as the club unsuccessfully fought to avoid relegation to League One. At the start of the 2013–14 season, under new manager

Kenny Jackett Kenneth Francis Jackett (born 5 January 1962) is a former professional football player and manager, who is currently Director of Football at club Gillingham. A skilful left-footed player, able to play in defence or midfield, Jackett was cappe ...

, Cassidy became a regular member of Wolves' matchday squads, starting several matches and appearing often as a substitute. However, he failed to score in any of these games. In January 2014 he joined Tranmere Rovers for a third loan spell, after a three-month deal was agreed. This loan spell, however, was less successful than his previous two as he scored just once in 19 appearances as the club struggled to avoid relegation. After having signed a new one-year contract at Wolves (with an option for a further year), he was loaned to League One team

in July 2014 until January 2015, during which time he scored four times during 20 appearances. On 15 January 2015, he was loaned out for the rest of the season to League Two side

. He won a play-off final promotion medal with Southend United. On 23 June 2015, Cassidy signed for

on a two-year contract with effect from 1 July plus an option for a further year. His contract was mutually terminated on 31 August 2016 after just one season. In October, Cassidy signed a short-term contractlater extended to the end of the 2016–17 seasonwith

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

club

Guiseley Guiseley ( ) is a town in metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Otley and Menston and is now a north-western suburb of Leeds. It sits in th ...

, for which he scored eight goals in 34 games. At the end of the season he joined

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded i ...

on a two-year deal. He scored 7 goals in 44 games for Pools, and had two loan spells with Maidstone United during the 2018–19 season, scoring 4 goals in 30 games. Cassidy joined

Maidenhead United Maidenhead United Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. They are currently members of and have played at York Road since 1871, making it the 'oldest senior football ground continuously ...

for the 2019–20 season. Cassidy signed for

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

club Stevenage for a five-figure fee on 14 January 2020. He was released at the end of the season. Cassidy signed for

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

on 18 August 2020. He made 15 appearances for the Minstermen in the curtailed 2020–21 season, scoring one goal. Cassidy joined National League North club Darlington in July 2021, and was one of six debutants in the starting eleven for their first match of the season, a 3–2 defeat at home to

Alfreton Town Alfreton Town Football Club is a football club based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, England. The club are currently members of and play at North Street. History The club was formed in 1959 following the merger of Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alfr ...

. He opened the scoring in the next match two days later with the aid of an errant defensive clearance, but hosts

Curzon Ashton Curzon Ashton Football Club is an association football club based in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, England. Founded in 1963 and nicknamed "The Nash", the club is affiliated to the Manchester Football Association and currently compete ...

came back to win 2–1. He scored five goals from 37 league appearances, but was one of ten players released at the end of the season. On 27 May 2022, he signed for newly relegated Northern Premier League Premier Division club

, returning to Nethermoor after five years away. On 29 September 2023, he signed for Northern Premier League First Division East club Ossett United.

International career

Cassidy was capped by Wales at both under-19 and under-21 levels. He scored once for the under-19s, against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

in September 2011.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cassidy, Jake 1993 births Living people Footballers from Conwy County Borough Welsh men's footballers Wales men's youth international footballers Wales men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football forwards Airbus UK Broughton F.C. players Llandudno Junction F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Guiseley A.F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Maidstone United F.C. players Maidenhead United F.C. players Stevenage F.C. players York City F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Ossett United F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Northern Premier League players