Jake Stanley Cole (born 11 September 1985) is an English professional

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 ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

for Gloucester City. He previously played for

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus ...

Hayes Hayes may refer to: * Hayes (surname), including a list of people with the name ** Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th president of the United States * Hayes (given name) Businesses * Hayes Brake, an American designer and manufacturer of disc brakes * Hay ...

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional football club, based in Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 season. The club's home stadium is Plough Lane. The cl ...

Farnborough Town Farnborough Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Farnborough, Hampshire, England. Founded in 1967 as Farnborough Town, they are currently members of the , the sixth tier of English football and play at Cherrywood Road. H ...

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and ...

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) *Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; anc ...

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park ...

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

and

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in the spring ...

Career

Cole was born in

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. ...

, London. He was the second choice goalkeeper at

for a number of years, being understudy to

Nick Culkin Nicholas James Culkin (born 6 July 1978) is a former English footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Career Born in York, North Yorkshire, Culkin signed for Premier League club Manchester United in September 1995, costing £100,000 from York Cit ...

Chris Day Christopher Nicholas Day (born 28 July 1975) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Day started his career at Tottenham Hotspur, where he spent five years, making one Premier League appearance for the North Lon ...

, Paul Jones,

Simon Royce Simon Ernest Royce (born 9 September 1971) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who is goalkeeping coach at Leyton Orient, As a player he was a goalkeeper who played in the Premier League for Charlton Athletic and Lei ...

and Lee Camp, but was praised by John Gregory as being a model professional. He played for

and

on loan during his six years there. Towards the end of the 2006–07 season he became first choice goalkeeper after Lee Camp was recalled from his loan spell to Derby County. Cole had been given the number 12 jersey for the 2007–08 season, indicating that John Gregory would be signing a number one keeper before the start of the season, with rumours focusing on the permanent signing of Lee Camp. Camp was then signed therefore limiting Cole's first team opportunities; however Cole continued to impress for Rangers' second string with manager John Gregory saying in 2007, "I have been impressed by Jake's overall attitude and ability. He is a fantastic understudy to Lee Camp." Cole slipped further down the pecking order at QPR following the signing of

Radek Černý Radek Černý (; born 18 February 1974) is a Czech former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played principally for Slavia Prague in the Czech First League between its inception in 1993 and 2005, when he moved to England. Černý spent ...

in the summer of 2008. He was loaned to the

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...

club

for three months on 11 July 2008. In March 2009 he joined

on loan. He was released by QPR on 19 May 2009. However, he was soon snapped up by Barnet on a one-year contract on 6 July 2009. He left Barnet at the end of the 2010–11 season. He spent time on trial with Gillingham and

in July 2011. Cole agreed a two-year contract with Argyle later that month. At Argyle, Cole emerged as the first-choice goalkeeper ahead of club stalwart

Romain Larrieu Romain Larrieu (born 31 August 1976) is a French former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, most notably in the Football League for Plymouth Argyle. He started his career at Montpellier in 1994. After failing to make an appearan ...

in the 2011–12 season, playing in 39 of the Pilgrims' 50 games that season, as the club scraped

EFL League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football L ...

survival. Ahead of the 2012–13 season, Larrieu retired and

Rene Gilmartin Rene Patrick Gilmartin (born 31 May 1987) is an Irish professional football coach and former professional footballer who is currently the goalkeeping coach at Ipswich Town. He has previously appeared in the Football League for Walsall, Watford, ...

came in as new competition for Cole, but again he came out as first-choice, with the club nearly mirroring their performance from the previous season. The 2013–14 season was a more successful one on the pitch for Argyle, and during it Argyle re-signed Luke McCormick and so Cole found himself as the club's back-up goalkeeper, only for injuries to McCormick to see him play exactly the same number of times as McCormick that year. Cole played his last game for Argyle in a 3–3 draw with

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is admi ...

. After leaving

, Cole went on to sign for

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

club

for the 2014–15 season. In Cole's two seasons at Woking they finished 7th and then 12th in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

before he left the Cardinals. On 8 June 2016, Cole joined local rivals

, initially on a one-year contract. In Cole's first two seasons at the Shots, the club finished 5th in the

both times, qualifying for the play-offs. In

16-17 16-17 is a band from Basel, Switzerland. Their music combines punk rock, hardcore punk, jazz and industrial music. Biography 16-17 was founded in 1983 by Alex Buess, Knut Remond and Markus Kneubühler. When the group played its first co ...

, Aldershot lost in the semi-finals 5–2 on aggregate to

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they adop ...

, with Cole making a costly error to gift

James Norwood James Norwood (born 5 September 1990) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Oldham Athletic. He started his career with Eastbourne Town, making eighteen senior appearances before signing for Exeter City in July ...

a goal in the first-leg. In 17-18, Aldershot lost in a play-off qualifying game to

Ebbsfleet United Ebbsfleet United Football Club is a professional football club based in Northfleet, Kent, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the club competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club was formed in 1946 from ...

on penalties, with Cole an unused sub in that game. Cole left the Shots at the end of the 2018-19 campaign and then joined

Maidstone United Maidstone United Football Club is a professional football club based in Maidstone, Kent, England. The team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league system. The current club filled the void left by the o ...

Career statistics

Honours

Individual *

Player of the Year: 2016–17

References

External links

Jake Cole profile
at the Aldershot Town F.C. website * (Farnborough Town, Plymouth Argyle, onwards) * (Queens Park Rangers, Oxford United, Barnet) {{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Jake 1985 births Living people Footballers from Hammersmith English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Hayes F.C. players AFC Wimbledon players Farnborough F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Barnet F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Woking F.C. players Aldershot Town F.C. players Maidstone United F.C. players Gloucester City A.F.C. players Isthmian League players National League (English football) players English Football League players