King jailed after club assault

10 months after Marlon King was accused of sexually assaulting a young student in a London nightclub, the Wigan Athletic Forward has been slapped with an 18-month jail sentence after being found guilty of sexual assault and actual bodily harm.

King, who was celebrating both his wife’s pregnancy and scoring a winning goal just hours earlier, grew increasingly frustrated when women enjoying a night at London’s Soho Revue Bar turned down his advances. It was when a 20-year old university student gave him the cold-shoulder that King eventually snapped, first of all indecently touching her before striking her to the floor with a blow that completely shattered her nose.

King claimed that he was a victim of a case of mistaken identity, but with so much evidence stacked up on him due to witness reports, one in fact from a Football coach, there was no chance that he’d get away with the offence. The 29-year old was therefore found guilty.

Wigan Chairman Dave Whelan has revealed that he will sack King from his contract in the very near future. King’s reputation will be permanently damaged now, due to a moment of incredible stupidity and brutality. Will anyone want to take him on after this? From past incidents you’d probably have to say yes. In 2004 Lee Hughes was convicted for causing death by dangerous driving following a late-night incident in the village of Meriden, Warwickshire. The original sentence was 6 years, but in August 2007 he was controversially released and immediately joined Oldham Athletic.

The question is, should King be allowed back into Football? The argument is that for the average Joe, they wouldn’t have a hope in hell of getting their job back if something like this happened to them, so why should Footballers? It’s a sensitive subject, but one that needs to be looked at. Not only does it say to Footballers ‘you can do what you want’, but it sets the worst example to youngsters in terms of behaviour.

Perhaps the tarnished reputation of these idiots is bad enough. It’s very much debatable.