Jack King

Jack Andrew King (born 20 August 1985) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender and midfielder.

After spending the remainder of the 2003–04 season at Didcot, King joined Brackley Town in August 2004.

After spells in the youth academies at Oxford United and Swansea City respectively, King played for local club Didcot Town in 2004.

He subsequently joined Brackley Town in August 2004, before returning to Didcot a year later.

He spent four years at Didcot before joining Farnborough, where he helped the club earn promotion to the Conference South.

After leaving Swansea in January 2004, King was scheduled to train with Bristol Rovers for the remainder of the 2003–04 season.

However, after arriving in Bristol he was unable to get international clearance to play from the Football Association of Wales, which meant he was unable to play professional football until the end of the season.

Due to being unable to play professionally, King began working as a groundworker for his father's building company alongside playing semi-professional football for local club Didcot Town of the Hellenic Premier Division.

He rejoined Didcot three months into the following season in November 2005 and helped the club win the Hellenic Premier Division to earn promotion into the Southern Football League.

He continued to play regularly for Didcot for several seasons whilst still working at his father's business, stating he received several offers to play in the Football League, although these offers did not appeal to him as he was progressing well in non-League.

He scored nearly 40 goals in over 150 appearances across his two spells at Didcot.

King left Didcot and joined Southern Premier Division club Farnborough on a two-year part-time contract before the start of the 2009–10 season.

King played regularly in the first team during his two seasons at Farnborough; the first saw the club secure the Southern Premier Division title, and his second season resulted in a second-placed finish in the Conference South.

He scored 21 goals in 106 appearances in all competitions over the two seasons.

King then signed for Woking ahead of the 2011–12 season, with the club winning the Conference South title during his one season there.

He opted to leave Farnborough ahead of the 2011–12 season as a result of the club deciding to go full-time.

King stated playing full-time football did not appeal to him, despite "more and more interest coming in for him", due to still working for his family's business, meaning going full-time "wasn't an option".

He subsequently signed to play part-time for fellow Conference South club Woking on a one-year contract in June 2011.

King spent one season at Woking, scoring 12 times in 44 appearances as Woking won promotion back to the Conference National after finishing the season as champions.

A move into full-time professional football followed when he joined League One club Preston North End in 2012.

King experienced full-time professional football for the first time when he signed for League One club Preston North End on a one-year contract in July 2012.

Preston manager Graham Westley had previously scouted King several times whilst he managed Stevenage, but felt he was too similar a player to Michael Bostwick, and therefore no move materialised at the time.

King made his debut for Preston in a 2–0 victory against Huddersfield Town in the League Cup on 13 August 2012, a game in which he scored the opening goal of the match courtesy of a header.

King scored three times in four games in the opening months of the season; two coming in league victories against Hartlepool United and Doncaster Rovers respectively, and the other in a 3–1 League Cup defeat to Middlesbrough at Deepdale.

He played 47 times during the 2012–13 season, scoring seven times, as Preston finished the season in 14th place in League One.

King played regularly under new manager Simon Grayson, and scored his first goal under Grayson's management in Preston's 3–0 victory against Scunthorpe United on 6 April 2013, a headed goal from Jeffrey Monakana's cross to complete the win.

Ahead of the 2013–14 season, King was deployed at right-back, in central midfield and as a striker in the club's pre-season friendlies with Grayson planning on using his versatility throughout the season.

He played in the club's first match of the new season, a 1–0 victory against rivals Blackpool in the League Cup on 5 August 2013.

After the match, it was revealed that King had suffered a stress fracture in his foot and would not be available for selection for two months.

He returned to the first team in November 2013, and scored his first goal of the season with a header to give Preston their first home win in two months in a 1–0 victory against Bristol City on 30 November 2013.

He spent three seasons at Preston, culminating in promotion to the Championship during the 2014–15 season.

King then signed for Scunthorpe United in the summer of 2015.

He joined League Two club Stevenage on loan in August 2016, with the deal being made permanent in January 2017.

King was released by Stevenage in May 2018 and subsequently signed for Ebbsfleet United of the National League a month later.

He spent two years at Stonebridge Road before retiring from professional football in May 2020.

King began playing football at Oxford United's School of Excellence, where he remained until he was 13.

He subsequently signed for Swansea City's academy and trained locally to where he lived due to not being able to travel to Swansea each day.

He did this for two years before moving to Swansea on a permanent basis when he was offered an academy scholarship aged 15.

He spent three years at Swansea, although was ultimately not offered a professional contract.

On not being offered a deal, King stated "it was disappointing. I sort of knew in the end. I got a knee injury when I was 18 and going into my third year. So it was no real surprise. I felt I was good enough at the time and will still always think that".