John Williamson "Jake" Findlay (born 13 July 1954 in Blairgowrie, Scotland) is a former

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

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 le ...

, most noted as a player for

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

and Luton Town. Standing at 6ft3inch he was a commanding goalkeeper.

Playing career

Born in Blairgowrie, the big

Scotsman The Scots ( sco, Scots Fowk; gd, Albannaich) are an ethnic group and nation native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged in the early Middle Ages from an amalgamation of two Celtic-speaking peoples, the Picts and Gaels, who founded t ...

was signed by

a month shy of his 15th birthday. Only making 14 appearances for Villa, he was sold to

David Pleat David John Pleat (born 15 January 1945) is an English football player turned manager, and sports commentator. Pleat made 185 Football League appearances for five clubs, scoring 26 goals. He had two spells as manager of Luton Town, and four as ma ...

's Luton Town in 1978 as a replacement for

Milija Aleksic Milija Anthony Aleksic (14 April 1951 – 17 October 2012) was an English football goalkeeper who made 138 league appearances in the Football League. Released by Port Vale in 1969, he played for Eastwood before lifting the FA Trophy with S ...

. He starred for Luton as they won the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

in 1981–82. Findlay was constantly tipped to play for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, but was never called up. Findlay fractured his thumb in 1983, and by the time he had recovered Luton had signed

Les Sealey Leslie Jesse Sealey (29 September 1957 – 19 August 2001) was an English professional footballer and coach. He played as a goalkeeper, most notably in the top flight for Coventry City, Manchester United, Aston Villa, and West Ham United. ...

. Findlay moved on to Swindon Town in 1985, and after spells with

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

and

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

he retired from the game.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Findlay, Jake 1954 births Living people English Football League players Scottish men's footballers Aston Villa F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Men's association football goalkeepers People from Blairgowrie and Rattray