Jake King (born 29 January 1955) is a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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 currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1886, the club were inaugur ...

, 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 football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

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

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

. At Wrexham, King made 92 League appearances, scoring 5 goals. On 3 October 1984, away to

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

in the first round of the

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

, he scored twice in the first half of a 4–3 away defeat as Wrexham beat the Portuguese on the

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

. King's final League club was

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

, where he made 30 appearances, before joining

Limerick City Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

in Ireland.

Coaching career

In 1987, King advised then Shrewsbury Town player

David Moyes David William Moyes (born 25 April 1963) is a Scottish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player, who currently manages Premier League club Everton F.C., Everton. He was the 2003, 200 ...

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 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 curing (food preservation), cured with Smoking (cooking), smoke. The finished product might be stored in the building, sometimes for a year or more.1955 births Living people Scottish men's 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 Men's association football fullbacks