The grandson of one of the great names in British football will be opposing Workington Reds at Borough Park this afternoon.
Jake Charles is the grandson of Welsh legend John Charles and he has joined FC United of Manchester on an initial months loan from National League North side Scarborough.
The 27-year-old Charles played 15 times at three age groups for Wales between 2012 and 2016.
Manager Neil Reynolds said: “I’ve been a big admirer of Jake for a while now and we enquired about him last season, we lost out then but we’ve managed to sign him on loan for the next month.
“He’s a strong quick centre forward who can hold up the ball and has a great eye for goal, and will be a great addition to our attacking line-up “
He has scored twice in 23 appearances for Scarborough since joining last season from Stafford Rangers after previous non-League experience with Farsley Celtic and Stalybridge Celtic.
Charles went through the age groups at Huddersfield Town and made just one senior appearance in 2016.
He met up with his new team-mates last night for his first training session and goes straight into the squad for the trip to Workington.
Reds boss Danny Grainger will be assessing his squad before he and assistant Terry Mitchell decide on the line-up as Aidy Roxburgh was added to the injured list on Tuesday night.
Just returning after injury, Roxburgh had to depart early in the game while another left back Matty Bell was pulled out of the squad during the warm-up.
“It is what it is and we just have to get on with it,” said Grainger, who is still hoping to bring in additional support for the squad over the next week or two.
Reds win over Lancaster on Tuesday lifted them to ninth in the table while FC United are 14th but just two points behind in what is becoming a congested mid-table.
The return of the Manchester club revives memories from eight years ago when they pipped Reds to the title by just two points.
What was memorable then were the two attendances for the games – 2,349 at Curzon Ashton (their home at the time) and 2,603 at Borough Park for the return. That remains Workington’s record attendance figure for a non-League fixture.
