Ex-QPR and Sunderland star seals surprise switch to eighth-tier club | OneFootball

Jack Colback has found a new club - but it's a far way away from his most recent stint as a Championship player

Throughout his footballing career, Jack Colback has been a stalwart of England's top two divisions, spending time in both the Premier League and the Championship.

Starting out his career at Sunderland, Colback played 115 times in the top flight for the Black Cats before committing the ultimate sin in the eyes of their fans in 2014 - turning down a new contract at the Stadium of Light to join their bitter rivals Newcastle United on a free transfer.

That meant a return to the city of his birth for Colback, and was a regular feature for three years in the top flight and the Championship, but despite staying at the Magpies for six years, the last three of them would be spent either out in the cold or out on loan, with an 18-month stint at Nottingham Forest taken in.

Since his release from Newcastle in 2020, Colback has played 134 times for Forest and QPR, but has been a free agent since last summer when his Hoops deal expired.

It's perhaps testament to Colback's ability that he's never had to drop below the Championship in his career to ply his trade, and whilst he no doubt could've offered something significant to a League One club this season, it's taken the 36-year-old over half the 2025-26 season to find a new club - and it is not at the level you'd expect.

Jack Colback makes surprise career move - he's joined eighth-tier non-league outfit

There was a collective shock on February 12 when non-league outfit Anstey Nomads confirmed the arrival of veteran midfielder Colback on their X account.

The Nomads will be little-known outside their division and outside of the area they are based in, and it does beg the question how a Leicestershire club in the eighth tier of English football have managed to tempt Colback into joining up with them.

There is a sprinkling of further EFL experience within their setup though. Their manager Conrad Logan spent 10 years at Leicester City as a goalkeeper between 2005 and 2015, albeit only playing 30 times for the Foxes, whilst also taking in spells at the likes of Stockport County, Luton Town, Bristol Rovers and Rotherham United.

Back in October, the Nomads also revealed that David Nugent - the third-highest Championship scorer of all-time - was joining in a player-coach role, albeit he has hardly featured on the pitch at the age of 40, whilst another ex-Leicester and EFL stalwart in Martyn Waghorn registered as a player in late December, although he's only played once so far.

Locality could be a factor in Jack Colback's latest footballing decision

There are still question marks over why Colback would go from a Championship player to an eighth-tier player in the space of less than a year, but perhaps location could be a factor.

Anstey is located just 40 minutes from Nottingham, and given Colback spent plenty of time at the City Ground between January 2018 and the summer of 2023, despite being a Newcastle player still in 2019-20, there's a chance he still resides in the East Midlands area.

The left-footed midfielder did not play with Logan or Nugent in his heydey, but he did come up through the Sunderland ranks with Waghorn, who is now his team-mate and he could be the reason as to why Colback has decided to try something different.

With the Nomads currently inside the Northern Premier League Division One Midlands play-off spots, adding Colback to their squad can only be a positive thing, both for their reputation and their chances of promotion on the pitch - it's certainly caught a lot of attention anyway.