Jake King (born 29 January 1955) is a Scottish football manager and former professional player.

Career

Playing career

King, who played as a full back, began as an apprentice with

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

, before making his professional debut in 1971. King made a total of 306 appearances in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

for Shrewsbury, scoring 20 goals, before leaving in 1982 to join

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

. At Wrexham, King made 92 League appearances, scoring 5 goals. On 3 October 1984, away to FC Porto in the first round of the

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourn ...

, he scored twice in the first half of a 4–3 away defeat as Wrexham beat the Portuguese on the away goals rule. King's final League club was Cardiff City, where he made 30 appearances, before joining

Limerick City Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

in Ireland.

Coaching career

In 1987, King advised then Shrewsbury Town player David Moyes to his first coaching role, at Concord College. King left his position as manager of Telford United to manage former club

in May 1997; he was sacked in November 1999. He later returned to Telford United, before being sacked in April 2004. King was appointed First Team Coach at

Aberystwyth Town Aberystwyth Town Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-Droed Tref Aberystwyth) is a Welsh semi-professional football team, currently playing in the Cymru Premier, the top tier of football in Wales. They are the only top flight men's football team in Ce ...

in June 2009.

Business interests

King worked as a chef before his professional playing career and since has also run restaurants. He ran a restaurant in Ireland for five years, commuting from England to personally run the kitchen. He later acquired a public house called ''The Cross Gates'' at

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

near Shrewsbury which three years later he converted into a restaurant called ''Smokestop BBQ'', and ran it as an American

smokehouse A smokehouse (North American) or smokery (British) is a building where meat or fish is cured with smoke. The finished product might be stored in the building, sometimes for a year or more.

with his wife and son before selling the business in 2016.Report by Andy Richardson.

Personal life

Another of King's sons, Jordan, is also a footballer, and played under his father at Telford United.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Jake 1955 births Living people Scottish footballers Scottish football managers Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Limerick F.C. players English Football League players Telford United F.C. managers Shrewsbury Town F.C. managers English Football League managers Association football fullbacks