Marlon King: Going down

Why is it that the only time Wigan ever get on the telly is when one of our players is convicted of actual bodily harm? Well, I say our player, as Marlon King was on loan at the time of the offense, but we were still paying his wages. Not any more, though, because he’s been handed his fourteen days notice.

According to Whelan, who I thought gave a rather good account of himself on Sky Sports News, “we don’t want players with eighteen month jail sentences”. Presumably seventeen would have been the threshold but one and a half years was just long enough to warrant a sacking in DW’s eyes.

Jollities aside, it’s something of a worry that King was our third-choice forward in the opening ten games of the season – he made a couple of substitute appearances but no real impact. In fact, King struggled to impose himself during his spell at the club with only a single penalty — which just about crept in — to his credit in 18 appearances.

If truth be known, Latics have been trying to offload King for quite a while now. He’s been an expensive burden, but perhaps we may be entitled to some sort of monetary compensation for his actions. Big Dave sounded pretty angry, and being the shrewd businessman he is, I would not be at all surprised if he pursued this claim.

On a personal level, there’s also the question of whether King will ever play professional football again. Had he been cleared of this offence, I am sure he would have been offloaded to Portsmouth or Wolves, maybe even a Championship side where he would have prospered.

As it is, the only football he’ll be playing for the next year and a half will be for Wormwood Scrubs FC. Still, if Mean Machine is anything to go by, then at least he’ll get the opportunity to hone his skills — footballing and otherwise — under the tutelage of Vinnie Jones.