Born in Glasgow, King started his footballing career as an apprentice at Shrewsbury Town, before making his professional debut with the club in 1973 in a 1-1 draw with Rochdale.
A full-back by trade, Jake would become part of the most successful spell in Shrewsbury’s history over the next decade.
King was a near ever-present in the 1974-75 season as Town were promoted to the Third Division by finishing second to league winners Mansfield Town. He then went onto score his first goal for the club in the following season.
The 1978-79 season is one which many Town fans will never forget and King more than played his part in what proved to be one of the most successful in the club’s history. Jake scored six times in the final two months of the season, including two in a 4-1 win on the final day of the season, a result which ensured Town would be crowned Champions of the Third Division.
Jake continued to be a regular for Town over the course of the next two seasons in Division Two and became only the fifth person in the club’s history to make over 300 appearances during his final season at the club. Jake would be released at the end of the 1981-82 season having scored 20 goals in 306 league games for the club.
However, this wasn’t the end of Jake’s time at the club as he would return 15 years later. He would go onto play for Wrexham, Cardiff City and Limerick City, before retiring from the game and managing Telford.
In May 1997 he was given the Shrewsbury Town managerial reigns, but was sacked in 1999 after two mid-table finishes in the Nationwide Third Division. He returned to Telford as manager and would also coach at Aberystwyth Town before retiring from football.
In his retirement King has become a restaurant owner and chef. He acquired a pub in Ford called The Cross Gates and turned it into Smokestop BBQ. He ran Smokestop as an American smokehouse with his wife and son, Ryan, before selling the business in 2016.
King was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2013.