Thomas Lloyd King (born 8 March 1995) is a 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
goalkeeper
In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...
for
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 Fo ...
club
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 ...
. He represented the England Under 17 team but chose to represent Wales at senior level, qualifying through his Welsh mother. He received his first call-up to the senior
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
squad in November 2019.
Club career
Millwall
King signed a one-year contract with
Millwall
Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...
in August 2014, having left the
Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace may refer to:
Places Canada
* Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick
* Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario
* Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...
youth team earlier in the season.
He joined
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
Welling United
Welling United Football Club is a professional football club, based in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley, England. The club's first team play in the National League South, at the sixth tier of English football.
History
Welling United Foot ...
on an initial one-month youth loan on 24 July 2015. He went on to make 20 appearances for the "Wings", before he was recalled by Millwall on 21 December.
King returned to the National League on 19 February 2016, joining
Braintree Town for an initial 28-day emergency loan. In his second appearance in the club for a
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 ...
at
Nethermoor Park match, King became involved in a controversial incident during an 1–1 draw. He conceded the equalising goal after
Oliver Norburn
Oliver Lewis Norburn (born 26 October 1992) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Blackpool. Born in England, he plays for the Grenada national team. He made his debut for the team in 2021 and played at the 2021 CONCA ...
broke a fair play protocol and lobbed him from 30-yards out rather than passing the ball to him, after Braintree had kicked the ball into touch to allow an injured Braintree player to receive treatment; a five-minute fracas followed but the goal was allowed to stand after security staff separated the players and management, and Guiseley manager
Mark Bower refused to allow Braintree to walk through and score.
Bower went on to say: "Their keeper stood there with his arms in the air and allowed the ball to into the net. It put us in a really difficult position whether we should allow them to score or not but we decided no. I think their keeper was trying to be clever and had simply let the ball go in." King said he was "bewildered" by Bower's statement, and speaking on the incident itself said that: "It is one of those things that will be remembered for a long time, I'll be remembered for a long time and it will carry on forever". The incident was described as "one of the biggest on-field controversies seen in non-league football", and Braintree manager
Danny Cowley said that: "it's the worst thing I've seen on a football pitch and it was disgraceful unsporting behaviour on their part". The following week, Guiseley chairman Phil Rogerson released a statement recognising the fair-play convention had not been followed: "... myself, Mark
ower
Ower is a hamlet in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. Its nearest towns are Totton – approximately to the southeast, and Romsey – around to the north-east.
Ower lies on the A36 road northwest of Totton. It lies mo ...
and the club find the situation most regrettable and not in line with the general ethos of Guiseley AFC. Fair play is and always has been at the heart of the club. The decision to continue playing as normal after the goal was taken on the spur of the moment and under extreme pressure, not helped at all by the heated atmosphere."
King went on to extend his loan at
Cressing Road until the end of the
2015–16 season, and Braintree qualified for the play-offs, losing out to
Grimsby Town
Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...
at the semi-final stage following a 2–1 aggregate defeat.
King made his first team debut for Millwall in a 2–1 defeat to
Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...
in an
EFL Cup Second Round match at
The Den
The Den (previously The New Den) is a football stadium in New Cross, south-east London, and the home of Millwall Football Club. The Den is adjacent to the South London railway originating at , and a quarter of a mile from the Old Den, which i ...
on 23 August 2016.
King signed an 18-month contract extension with Millwall on 4 January 2018.
On the same day, he joined
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 ...
side
Stevenage on loan for the rest of the
2017–18 season.
King made his debut for Stevenage two days after signing, keeping a clean sheet in the club's 0–0 home draw with
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...
in the Third Round of the
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 ...
.
On 27 June 2018 King joined
AFC Wimbledon on a season long loan. King started the season as first choice goalkeeper but soon fell behind the Dons reserve goalkeeper
Joe McDonnell in the pecking order as the Dons struggled at the bottom of the table. His season-long loan was cut short when recalled by Millwall in January having started only 11 League games for the Dons, who had already replaced him with the loan of
Aaron Ramsdale on loan from
A.F.C. Bournemouth
AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...
.
Newport County
On 7 June 2019, King joined
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
Newport County on a two-year contract. On 3 August 2019 he made his debut for Newport in a 2–2 draw against
Mansfield Town
Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ...
, saving a second half penalty. In September 2019, King was nominated for the August
PFA League Two Player of the Month Award, after five successive clean sheets, and more than 500 minutes of football played without conceding for the South Wales side, who had climbed to second place in the league.
King scored the first goal of his career on 19 January 2021, with a wind-assisted goal kick in the 12th minute of Newport's 1–1 League Two draw at
Cheltenham Town
Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league sy ...
. On 21 January 2021, his goal was confirmed to have broken the
Guinness World Record for longest football goal, with a distance of , a record previously held, since November 2013, by
Asmir Begović. King played for Newport in the
League Two playoff final at
Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...
on 31 May 2021 which Newport lost to
Morecambe, 1–0 after a 107th-minute penalty. On 4 June 2021 it was announced that he would leave Newport County at the end of the 2020–21 season, following the expiration of his contract.
Salford City
On 7 July 2021,
Salford City confirmed that they had signed King on a two year deal.
Northampton Town
On 14 January 2023, King signed for fellow League Two club
Northampton Town
Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...
on a six-month deal after agreeing a release from his Salford contract. Having been dropped for
Alex Cairns, King's availability arrived at a good moment for Northampton due to an injury to
Lee Burge
Lee Stephen Burge (born 9 January 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for EFL League One club Northampton Town.
Club career Coventry City
On 30 January 2013, Burge joined Conference National side Nuneaton Tow ...
.
Wolverhampton Wanderers
On 3 July 2023, King joined
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 ...
on a free transfer following his release from Northampton Town.
International career
King was capped by England at
under-16 and
under-17 level.
He also qualifies for Wales as his mother was born in
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
as well as being eligible for
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
through residency, having spent several years there as a child, where he first started playing football in the youth ranks at
Manchester United (Gibraltar).
On 7 November 2019, King was called-up in the
Wales national football team
)
, Association = Football Association of Wales (FAW)
, Confederation = UEFA (Europe)
, Coach = Rob Page
, Captain = Gareth Bale
, Most caps = Gareth Bale (111)
, Top scorer = Gareth ...
for the first time for the
UEFA Euro 2020
The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...
qualifying matches against
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...
and
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...
. In August 2021, following the withdrawal of
Adam Davies due to a positive
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...
test, King was called-up in the squad for the September international fixtures; a friendly against
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
, and
2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
and
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
.
Career statistics
Honours
Millwall
*
EFL League One play-offs
The EFL League One play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL League One table and are part of the English Football League play-offs. , the play-offs comprise t ...
:
2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Tom
1995 births
Living people
Footballers from Plymouth, Devon
English men's footballers
England men's youth international footballers
English people of Welsh descent
Men's association football goalkeepers
Portsmouth F.C. players
Crystal Palace F.C. players
Millwall F.C. players
Welling United F.C. players
Braintree Town F.C. players
Stevenage F.C. players
Newport County A.F.C. players
Salford City F.C. players
National League (English football) players
English Football League players
Manchester 62 F.C. players
Northampton Town F.C. players
Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players