Jack King (footballer, born 1985)


Jack Andrew King is an English professional footballer who plays for National League club Ebbsfleet United.
After spells in the youth systems at Oxford United and Swansea City respectively, King played for local side 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. King then signed for Woking ahead of the 2011–12 campaign, with the club winning the Conference South title during his one season there.
A move into full-time professional football followed when he joined League One side Preston North End in 2012. 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 side 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.

Career

Early career

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 a 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".
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.

Non-league

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 side Didcot Town of the Hellenic Premier Division. After spending the remainder of the 2003–04 season at Didcot, King joined Brackley Town in August 2004. 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 39 goals in over 150 appearances across his two spells at Didcot.
King ended his four-year association with Didcot and joined Southern Premier Division side Farnborough on a two-year part-time contract before the start of the 2009–10 campaign. His two years at Farnborough were highly successful, with King a regular fixture in the first-team for both seasons; 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.
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 side Woking on a one-year deal 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.

Preston North End

King experienced full-time professional football for the first time when he signed for League One side Preston North End on a one-year deal 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 over 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 adjusted well to playing in the Football League for the first time in his career, scoring three times in four games in the opening months of the season; two coming in league victories over Hartlepool United and Doncaster Rovers respectively, and the other in a 3–1 League Cup loss to Middlesbrough at Deepdale. He added his fifth goal of the season when his deflected shot found in the net in Preston's 4–1 win against Stevenage on 10 November 2012. King was on the scoresheet once again a month later, scoring with a powerful shot in a 3–3 Football League Trophy penalties win over Bury on 18 December 2012. King remained a regular feature under new manager Simon Grayson, and scored his first goal under Grayson's management in Preston's comfortable 3–0 victory against Scunthorpe United on 6 April 2013 when he headed in Jeffrey Monakana's cross to seal the win. He played 47 times during the 2012–13 campaign, scoring seven times, as Preston finished the season in 14th place.
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 campaign. He featured in the club's first match of the new season, a 1–0 win over rivals Blackpool in the League Cup on 5 August 2013. Shortly after the match, it was revealed that King had suffered a stress fracture in his foot and would be out of first-team action for two months. He returned to the first-team in November 2013, and scored his first goal of the season courtesy of a header to give Preston their first home win in two months in a 1–0 victory against Bristol City on 30 November 2013. In December 2013, King signed a contract extension to keep him at the club until the summer of 2015. King's only other goal for the season came in the reverse fixture against Bristol City at Ashton Gate on 5 April 2014, with his deflected effort briefly giving Preston the lead in an eventual 1–1 draw. He made 29 appearances during the campaign, most of which being deployed in the centre of defence, including two in the League One play-offs, as Preston were defeated 4–2 on aggregate by Rotherham United at the semi-final stage.
He remained at Preston for the 2014–15 season, making his first appearance of the campaign as a substitute in a 4–0 away victory against Scunthorpe United on 16 August 2014. He scored his first goal of the season a week later in Preston's 1–0 win over Oldham Athletic at Deepdale, scoring the only goal of the game from close range after Paul Gallagher's free-kick had not been cleared. King made 28 appearances in all competitions during the successful campaign in a season where Preston earned promotion to the Championship after winning the League One play-offs. King was released by Preston shortly after the end of the season. He made 102 appearances during his three-year spell at Preston, scoring 10 goals.

Scunthorpe United

Following his departure from Preston, King signed for League One club Scunthorpe United on a free transfer, and on a two-year deal, in May 2015. King was made vice-captain ahead of the start of the season behind club captain Stephen Dawson, although ultimately went on to captain the side for the majority of the first half of the season due to Dawson sustaining an injury. King made his debut for Scunthorpe on the opening day of the 2015–16 campaign in a 2–1 defeat to newly promoted Burton Albion. He scored his first goal for the club in a 1–1 draw with Port Vale on 12 December 2015, briefly giving Scunthorpe the lead when he turned home Luke Williams' corner in the first-half. He followed this up by scoring again three days later, scrambling in from close range in Scunthorpe's 3–0 home win over Leyton Orient in an FA Cup Second Round replay, with the victory setting up an away tie with Premier League side Chelsea in January 2016, a match in which King also played in. Despite being a regular starter throughout the first half of the season, King started to feature more often from the substitute's bench during the second half of the campaign. He made 42 appearances in all competitions during the campaign, with all 12 of his substitute appearances coming in the final months of the season, scoring two goals.

Stevenage

Having made no appearances for Scunthorpe in the opening weeks of the 2016–17 season, King joined League Two side Stevenage on 30 August 2016, on a loan deal until January 2017. He made his debut for Stevenage the same day his signing was announced, playing the whole match in a 3–1 away defeat to Leyton Orient in the EFL Trophy. This was followed with his first league start for the club three days later, on 3 September 2016, in Stevenage's 6–1 victory over Hartlepool United at Broadhall Way. He scored his first goal for the Hertfordshire side a week later, doubling Stevenage's lead from close range from a Matt Godden cross in an eventual 2–1 win against Crawley Town. King was ever-present during the four-month loan spell, making 23 appearances in all competitions, returning to his parent club upon the expiry of the loan deal on 9 January 2017.
Three weeks later, on 31 January 2017, King signed for Stevenage on an 18-month permanent deal, joining on a free transfer. King remained a constant starter in the team for the remainder of the campaign, scoring two further goals during the season; both coming in consecutive 3–0 home victories over Notts County and Portsmouth respectively in March 2017. King made 39 appearances for the club in all competitions in his first season for the club as Stevenage narrowly missed out on a play-off place following a tenth-place finish. The 2017–18 season saw King make 37 appearances in all competitions as Stevenage finished the League Two campaign in 16th position. King was released upon the expiry of his contract in May 2018.

Ebbsfleet United

Following his departure from Stevenage, King signed for National League club Ebbsfleet United on a free transfer on 27 June 2018. He made his Ebbsfleet debut in the club's first game of the 2018–19 season, playing the whole match in a 1–0 loss to Chesterfield at Stonebridge Road on 4 August 2018. King started in the club's first eleven games of the season, before being dropped by manager Daryl McMahon following a 4–1 away defeat to Wrexham on 15 September 2018. He did not play again under McMahon, with King stating that he felt that the manager had "left him out in the cold" without communicating the reason behind him being left out of the first-team squad. McMahon was replaced by Garry Hill in November 2018, and King instantly returned to the team, playing in a 0–0 FA Cup draw with League Two club Cheltenham Town on 10 November 2018. He scored his first goal for Ebbsfleet in a 2–0 home win over Leyton Orient on 19 January 2019. He remained a mainstay in defence for the remainder of the season, making 36 appearances during the campaign and scoring two goals.

Style of play

King has been described as a "versatile" player due to being deployed in several positions over the course of his career. He started out playing in central midfield and stated this was his natural position when progressing through the youth ranks and into semi-professional football. King has also said that central midfield is where he prefers playing and where he has most experience.
During his time at Preston North End, King developed the versatile tag due to playing in five different positions within the space of two months of arriving at the club. This included playing central defence, right-back, right-midfield, central midfield and as a striker. On this, King said "Playing in different positions is something I see as adding another string to my bow, it can help develop my game". In 2012, he also revealed that his manager at Preston, Graham Westley, believed that King should be looking at playing in central defence in the long-term. This proved to be the case as, from 2014 onward, this has been where King has predominantly been deployed.

Career statistics

Honours

Didcot Town
  • Hellenic Football League Premier Division: 2005–06
Farnborough
  • Southern Football League Premier Division: 2009–10
Woking
Preston
  • Football League One play-offs: 2014–15
Individual
  • Conference South Team of the Year: 2011–12