As a player, he was a midfielder who most notably featured at EFL Championship level for Sheffield Wednesday, Bolton Wanderers and Ipswich Town and in the Scottish Premier League for Motherwell.
Coke began his career as a youth player at Queens Park Rangers in 2003, before teaming up with his older brother Jon at non-league side Kingstonian a year later.
[2] He scored his first goal for the club in the second round of the League Cup in the 1–0 win against Southampton,[3] which still heralds fond memories for Coke.
He then went on to score two goals in two appearances against Leyton Orient and Shrewsbury Town respectively, before being linked with several Championship League clubs, including: Southampton, Reading, Norwich City and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
[5] A Football League tribunal on 24 September 2007 ruled that Northampton must pay Mansfield a maximum fee of £70,000 (depending on appearances) for the transfer, as well as a sell on clause of 20%.
[10][11] After being on the sideline, Coke made his debut for the club, coming on for Andy Kirk in the 58th minute and was booked, as Northampton Town lost 3–2 to Leeds United on 5 January 2008.
[19] After doubling his goalscoring tally in a 4–4 draw against Scunthorpe United on 13 December 2008,[20] Coke sustained a calf injury that sidelined him for the remainder of the season.
Coke made his European debut for the club against Steaua București but they proved to be too strong for The Steelmen after their lost 5–1 on aggregate.
Coke made his league debut for the club in the opening game of the season, where he set up one of Ross Forbes's goals in a 2–2 draw against St Johnstone on 15 August 2009.
[27] Coke went to make 27 appearances for the club and scoring 4 including against Brighton & Hove Albion,[28] Hartlepool United,[29] Rochdale[30] and Plymouth Argyle.
[31] Following loan spells at Bury and Swindon Town, Coke returned to the Wednesday first team in January 2013, marking his first league appearance for the Owls since April 2011 with a 3–1 win over Hull City.
[39] Following that incident, Coke went on to become a fan's favourite at Gigg Lane due to the superb performances he put in for the Shakers in their fight for League 1 survival.
[49] Playing only four times in two seasons, Coke later attributed his lack of appearances at Oldham as problems with the club's owner, although not elaborating on the details he says his absence was not down to injury.
[50] After a successful trial, Coke joined National League North club Hereford on 17 September 2020, dropping into Non-League for the first time in his career.
On 29 January, Hereford announced that they had waived the seven day notice period effectively releasing him to allow him to sign for Grimsby.
[52] Having not signed for Grimsby on the Transfer Deadline day on 1 February, manager Paul Hurst announced that he had yet to make a final decision and that Coke was still training with The Mariners.
[53] On 4 February 2021, Paul Hurst announced a registration issue that saw Coke still registered to the League would prevent him from signing for Grimsby.
"[57] Grimsby secured promotion with victory in the play-off final, though Coke was not in the matchday squad at London Stadium.
[60] Grimsby chairman Jason Stockwood hailed Coke on his appointment saying "I've been working with Giles on a couple of projects outside his playing.