Jay Stansfield, son of Adam, was in City’s academy before joining Fulham as a sixteen-year-old. He returned to St James Park on loan for the 2022/23 season and concluded his spell at St James Park with a second-half hat-trick in the final game of the season against Morecambe. Returning to Fulham, he spent a season on loan with Birmingham City before moving to St Andrew's in a widely-reported transfer deadline day deal. 

Jay first appeared for Exeter City's academy in the under-9s in 2010, an event recorded by a first-team programme of the time: "Jay Stansfield made his Exeter debut, and played brilliantly. He got off to a dream start firing a penalty home into the top corner leaving the goalkeeper with no chance". Later, whilst still at school, he played at St James Park on 30 April 2019 when he came on as a substitute against Wigan in the EFL Youth Alliance Cup Final. He subsequently became a scholar/trainee in July 2019 but within weeks an offer was received from Fulham that was accepted even though the club considered it to be below the player's 'market value'. 

Playing with Fulham’s youth teams Jay enjoyed early success and, aged seventeen, made his first-team debut as a substitute against Aston Villa in the FA Cup 3rd Round in January 2020. Soon afterwards he made another substitute appearance against Charlton Athletic in a league game and at the end of the season won the Johnny Haynes Trophy awarded annually to the Fulham Supporters’ Trust Academy Player of the Year whilst having also made three appearances for England under-18s against Czech Republic, Norway and Russia.  

Jay played two first-team games in 2021/22 - one in the League Cup; the other in the Championship - scoring his first goal in senior football on 24 August 2021 against Birmingham City in a League Cup tie. The next season, following Fulham's promotion in 2022, Jay made his Premier League debut against Wolves and - after featuring in a League Cup game and two further Premier League matches (starting against Brentford) - joined Exeter City on loan for the remainder of the season on 2 September 2022.

Wearing the number nine shirt, Jay was to make an emotional debut as a second-half substitute against Milton Keynes the following day and was in the starting line-up against Burton on 17 September 2022. He was to score his first City goal, and first league goal of his career, on 8 October 2022 in the opening minute at Barnsley before adding another goal in the second-half.

Going into the final game of the campaign with half-a-dozen league goals to his name, Jay's season with Exeter City reached a memorable conclusion when he scored a hat-trick in the 49th, 57th and 70th minute against Morecambe on 7 May 2023. Returning to Fulham, he joined Birmingham City on a season-long loan in August 2023 and marked his debut for his new club with a late winner against Plymouth Argyle.

After showing continued bright form for Birmingham, Jay made his England under-21 debut against Serbia in November 2023 and finished the season as Birmingham's top scorer with a dozen league goals (plus one in the FA Cup) - together with winning both the fans' and players' player of the year awards - as the club was relegated to the third tier. Back once more at Craven Cottage at the start of 2024/25, he repeated his feat of three years earlier by scoring in the League Cup at Birmingham City only to move to the Midlands club three days later on a permanent basis. In a deal that was concluded hours before the 30 August 2024 transfer deadline, the St Andrew's club paid a record fee for their level of football - reported to be in the region of £10-12m - with Jay signing a seven-year deal and the Grecians anticipating the proceeds of the earlier sell-on arrangement.