Marlon King Update (Thankfully Signs for Coventry)

[bowles]

said in the mirror today the twat is def on his way to covenrty!! GOOD I SAY!!!

[Lonegunmen]

I hope so!. Sorry Colin but this is one transfer I cannot agree with. He wasn't that good as scoring and his off the field activities certainly were an offence to this club, the majority of fans and the good of the game.

[danielqpr]

it says on sky sports news online that warnock is considering offering a deal to him

[Macmoish]

Paul Doyle/The Guardian - Football transfer rumours: Pepe Reina or Shay Given to Arsenal?

"...Queens Park Rangers are to give the skills of their PR people a stringent examination by signing popular striker Marlon King."


www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/09/football-transfer-rumours-reina-arsenal

[Macmoish]

Sounds like it's happening...

And it ends up not happening - at minimum, QPR and Warnock are obviously prepared to have it happen. So now we know.

[blatantfowl]

I have emailed the club. Feel free to borrow this and change it to suit if you feel the same way. Do not just cut and paste (unless you also have four kids)....

I must raise my concerns regarding an awful decision that appears to be on the brink of being made regarding convicted sex offender Marlon King. Quite how the club reconciles interest in someone who has a record of 14 convictions I have no idea. We are a family club and I will not be bringing my four children to see the depths we would plumb in the name of success.

While offenders serve their time and are then deemed to be rehabilitated I believe Mr King's string of previous convictions proves that we has never learnt to control his wild and excessive lifestyle and that a more stringent lesson is required for him to reform. For us to expose ourselves to this pitiful man and the tawdry forms of outrageous behaviour he regularly engages in is totally unacceptable to me. Please listen to the fans, I know I am not in a minority at being appalled in our interest in Marlon King.

I do not deny Mr King the chance to rehabilitate nor do I wish to deny him a living, I simply cannot condone allowing him to pursue these things while in the glamorous and enviable role of a professional football player who will idolised by fans every week. I think of his victims and the ongoing pain they will suffer when they are constantly reminded of their experiences with Marlon King by seeing him in the national media. If football players cheat or take drugs they receive a ban from the FA that is much longer than any criminal punishment. The FA should have legislated to put into place a playing ban on persistent offenders. I do not know the number of offences at which such a ban would come into force but I suggest to you that a "14 strikes and you are out" rule in this instance is massively lenient and understanding to Mr King, who has had every chance to change and has consistently spurned them. He could still have another chance yet but that chance would come outside of being a professional football player so he can make his living like any other convicted criminal. If you really care about him and his chances of recovery then offer him a job as a scout, a reserve coach, trainee physio or a kit man and make an official announcement to all the football world what we are doing and why we are doing it; giving him a chance to make a living wage and be responsible to those that are dependent on him. That would be a truly admirable stance rather than morally bankrupt choice the club appears to be about to make.

Do not let the fact that the FA has failed to legislate in such circumstances be a smokescreen to hide behind. The club has an opportunity to make a correct moral judgement. The reputation of QPR is at stake. Please do not ruin it.

Thank you

[cpr]

Well said Mr Fowl.

Let's hope the club takes notice of it's fans eh!

As yet, I nor anyone else I know, has had any feedback from the club.

Which does not bode well in my opinion.

[Macmoish]

"To Sell your birthright for a mess of pottage"

There's also a (non-swear) Yiddish phrase: It's a 'shandeh'

[dogf1sh]

Look.................i want to thank you all for motivating me to register and post. I wouldn't usually bother but Mahlon King has provoked me into it. (Was he provoked in that bar?) Are we all going to believe what the newspapers report. What about the Guildford 6 and possibly more recently Jeremy Bamber?

Anyway....i was sat in the Ellerslie Road stand where i first watched my beloved team in 1977 v's WBA and watched Helguson miss 2 very easy chances....again. I am sick and tired of this unglamorous division and want some prem footbal.bigger crowds and some some ground investment please! This won't happen while everyone keeps banging on about being a family club bla bla. We so need two 20 goals a season strikers. Guess what. There aren't many about and all the clubs are looking for that elusive player. There is no fire without smoke but we should sign King....watch him score plenty....get promotion and then dump him like i was by my first love! By then we will back where we want to be. Lets not be Moral....lets face it, none of the modern day footballers are so why should we care too much? All i care about is our club enjoying some relative success and if that means signing a dick head then do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[eskey8]

If they sign kick, it will be a big kick in the teeth for the fans. Its probably the first time I have seen the boards so united on a particular subject/signing.

This CAN NOT and SHOULD NOT go ahead.

[Macmoish]

Suppose he was a child molester - who had done his time - would people still want him playing for QPR?

[eusebio13]

Or the kid who stabbed Kiyan Prince...we have certain values and to sell them out for a football player is beneath this club. For god sake lets look at this guys history:

While on loan to Hull City, King was alleged to have headbutted teammate Dean Windass in a casino in Scarborough. Hull City stated that the matter had been dealt with internally, and both players remained with the club.[26] Windass later described the incident as a "storm in a teacup".

King has convictions for 14 offences, dating from 1997.[27][28] He received fines, driving bans, community service sentences, a rehabilitation order and orders to pay compensation on convictions including: theft from a person and from a car, criminal damage, and attempting to obtain property by deception; fraudulent use of vehicle licence document, driving without insurance, speeding, drink driving; a wounding incident while playing amateur football, and two cases involving assault of young women rejecting his advances in the Soho area of London.

Two cases have led to imprisonment. In May 2002 he received an eighteen month prison sentence for receiving stolen goods, in relation to a BMW convertible that he was found driving. He was found not guilty of a charge of assaulting a police officer in a related case. His solicitor commented that "His reputation will be tarnished forever, whatever success he achieves, he'll always be referred to in a Tyson-esque way as someone who has had a criminal past and that is a considerable penalty."[29][30] Gillingham continued to pay his salary while he was in jail, and supported in his appeal, which resulted in the sentence being reduced to nine months, and he was released on licence after five months, returning to the Gillingham team within two days of his release.[31] In December 2008, again in the Soho area, he was arrested on suspicion of punching a 20 year-old female university student in the face, causing a broken nose and split lip for which she was treated in hospital. He was later convicted of sexual assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and sentenced to 18 months in prison and placed on the sex offender register for seven years.[1] He has indicated he will appeal against the length of his jail sentence.[14] Wigan Athletic immediately initiated the cancellation of his contract.[32]

King’s agent, Tony Finnigan, said he was confident that his client would find a club on his release, which was on 29 July 2010,[33] and accused the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) of failing to offer support.[34] Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the PFA, said that the PFA did not represent players when they have broken the law and been convicted on non-footballing matters. It would support members with anger management or other issues if approached but no approach had been made by Marlon King.[14]

[Macmoish]

Or The Sun

Jailbird King could go to War

NEIL WARNOCK is ready to hand disgraced striker Marlon King a route back into football at QPR.
Former Watford and Wigan star King, 30, is looking for a club after nine months in prison for assaulting a woman.

Boss Warnock said: "We don't have a 20-goal-a-year man.

"He has served his time. People have killed and not got the stick this lad has."

www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/3086642/Shamed-Marlon-King-could-join-QPR.html#ixzz0w71D4FFc

[Macmoish]

Meanwhile ITK-conduit of you-know-who, categorically declares "King has NOT been training at Harlingon at all."

WATRB Link www.wearetherangersboys.com/forum/showthread.php?p=420194#post420194

[klr]

This one has got Paladini's fingerprints all over it.

Absolutely shameful stuff.

[Macmoish]

Aug 9, 2010 12:59:05 GMT @klr said:

This one has got Paladini's fingerprints all over it.

Absolutely shameful stuff.

Well in one sense, I hope you're right, because then we can blame it on the man many of us don't think that highly of. (Even though if that were true, it would have other implications re transfer activity).

But just suppose it really is all Warnock...And it's being accepted by Family Club "Bhatia/Saksena" - that has other implications

[eskey8]

I can't see why headbutting dean windass is a bad thing?

[superckat]

Think we all know about Kings record and all the offences and charges stacked up against him. You can bet your house that there are many many more offences that we aren't or ever will be aware of.

There will be an ongoing argument about whether he deserves another chance. He has had more than one chance and it doesn't seem to have made any difference in the past so can't see why it would now. In fact I would go as far as say that in his case there is no need to rehabilitate because he always knows that someobody WILL give him the chance. So why change.

If he was working in any other industry would he be allowed to return to his job. Would employees want to know once they are aware of his record. I wonder how many of those who think it's OK to sign him if he had comitted his last offence against a friend or family member. Would they still think he has done his time and deserves another chance. If you would then fair play. If you wouldn't then, why the double standards.

What really disappoints me in all this is that the club are seriously considering bringing the player in. If we were struggling financially, had no money were struggling against relegation and were on the verge of adminsitration and needed to do something desperate to get us out of the sh*t. You could almost understand. I still wouldn't agree with it. But you could almost accept the the reasons. However it is not the case almost the opposite in fact. Jointly we have probably the richest owners in the footballing world. If we need to spend money on a striker, the money could very easily be made available. We do not need King, There are better players out there. Yet we are actively chasing him. The club have done quite a bit over the last few months to try and unite the fan base and bring the feelgood factor back to the club. Now they have gone and undone all the good work.

The club got rid of Sousa for as they saw it a breach of club rules. Also got rid of Magilton, because of the headbutt incident. Yet they are more than happy to employ someone with Kings criminal record. The hypocrisy at the club is unbelievable. Their reasons, indefensible. Their morals unnaceptable.

[Macmoish]

The Guardian/The Fiver - John AShdown

BITS AND BOBS

"It's taken barely a week for someone to register their interest in signing Marlon King, who was released from jail last week midway through his sentence for punching a 20-year-old woman while celebrating his wife's latest pregnancy. "People have killed people and they never got the stick this lad has got," chirped the interested party, QPR boss Neil Warnock."

www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/09/the-fiver-england-fabio-capello

[The Scooter]

Not sure who fowl's email was sent to but Laressa Kelly is Amit and Ishan's PA........ ;o)

[cpr]

Thanks nodge, I was advised to use the feedback address by someone at the club but that seems to generate none.

Please contact the following gentleman who is based at the training ground. He is new media manager according to the official website.

Paul Morrissey

I'm, sure he would appreciate the feelings of the fans being made known.

However, I do hope all the messages sent to [e-mail] (there are a number to my knowledge) are not simply being ignored.

Edit: I removed Paul's email address as I'm unsure if it's right to publish it here. It can easily be found on the official site or it is obvious if you are aware of the way email addresses are formed at QPR.

[Macmoish]

And Ian Taylor is our press guy:

The two people I've contacted in the past have been Ian Taylor and Laressa Kelly

[Macmoish]

"Championship Talk" -Does Marlon King Deserve Another Chance In Football?by Rob McCluskey on August 9, 2010 · 0 comments

Striker Mar­lon King has recently been released from prison and after his free­dom he con­ducted an inter­view with Sky Sports where many thought he came across as quite gen­uine, although oth­ers saw him as a wolf in sheep’s cloth­ing. King still protests his inno­cence over the offence that saw him given an 18 month jail sen­tence (reduced to 9), in which he was found guilty of sex­u­ally assault­ing a female when out at a Lon­don night club and he is deter­mined to show that he was mis­taken in iden­tity. If King is to prove this then he has a lot of work to do, as his pre­vi­ous 13 crim­i­nal con­vic­tions prior to this one paint a pic­ture that prob­a­bly already made up people’s minds that this is a bad apple. Now that King is a free man, his agent wasted no time in try­ing to find his client a new club, offer­ing him to a num­ber of Cham­pi­onship clubs and even Pre­mier League ones. Neil Warnock is tak­ing him under con­sid­er­a­tion and some have claimed that Coven­try will be King’s next des­ti­na­tion. But does the for­mer Gilling­ham man really deserve another chance to work in this line of work?

King is a striker, but he won’t exactly set the world on fire and he’s unlikely to bag you 20 goals a sea­son, but the job he does up front is impor­tant for what­ever striker he sup­ports and he can be a use­ful tar­get man. His most recently club was Wigan, but found him­self loaned out to Hull and Mid­dles­brough when they par­tic­i­pated in England’s top league, show­ing that many man­agers in the game feel he is a use­ful player in the Pre­mier League. It is highly unlikely that any Pre­mier League team will take on a 30 year old who has just come out of prison, but it is under­stand­able why many Cham­pi­onship teams may be con­sid­er­ing him. He has abil­ity and at the age of 30 he should at the height of his tal­ent and the fact he is on a free trans­fer makes him even more appealing.

But then there’s that image. I’ve been on an away day to Old­ham when they had Lee Hughes up front for them and the amount of abuse he still receives from away fans is intense. In 2004, Hughes was jailed after he caused a fatal car crash which saw one per­son dead; Hughes fled the scene and handed him­self in 36 hours later. Peo­ple shout things like “They should have thrown away the key” and fans were keen to let Mr. Hughes know that they thought he was a “sick human being” — I could write a num­ber of other things they said, but I’m sure The Gaffer wouldn’t be too happy see­ing them on his site! Basi­cally, the major­ity of foot­ball fans you meet will use it against the player and you’ll find few who feel that play­ers who are guilty of such unspeak­able crimes should never be allowed to play the game again. King may want to clear his name, but he’ll always be labelled as one of those players.

I’m a New­cas­tle fan and you’re prob­a­bly aware that my team has the noto­ri­ous Joey Bar­ton. Bar­ton receives the same abuse Hughes does, although he hasn’t com­mit­ted a crime such as mur­der, he has sev­eral inci­dents that have involved fight­ing, often fuelled by his alco­holism. I some­times feel a lit­tle bit sorry for Bar­ton (not just as a New­cas­tle fan), because his half brother was involved in a racially moti­vated mur­der of a young boy, some­thing which has led many to label Joey him­self as a racist, which couldn’t be fur­ther from the truth. The minute you’re a prison alumni, such as Bar­ton or Hughes, then all of a sud­den people’s per­cep­tion of you changes and its a heavy social load on any­body. Bar­ton will always be labelled as a hor­ri­ble man, but that is because you rarely hear the good he does from the likes of Sky Sports News and the BBC. I don’t say his actions were noth­ing, it is never right to assault any­one for any rea­son, but Bar­ton has taken mas­sive steps to improve his life; he hasn’t had a drop of alco­hol for two years and the num­ber of char­i­ties and good causes he is involved in and con­tributes to is count­less. He rarely speaks about them and they’ll rarely make the head­lines because who is inter­ested in that? If you’re read­ing this Mr. Bar­ton, I’m more wor­ried about what that hor­ri­ble mous­tache is doing for your image lately!

I do think at times celebri­ties and sports per­son­al­i­ties are pro­tected too much when it comes to the legal sys­tem, but if peo­ple are really keen to turn their life around and con­tribute some­thing to soci­ety then why stop them? Craig Bel­lamy is another exam­ple, he is a player that every­one expects is a hor­ri­ble per­son due to the fact he is always com­plain­ing on the pitch. I’m not a fan of Bel­lamy any­more (if you know about his bust up with Shearer, you will under­stand why New­cas­tle fans don’t respect him), but I had a mate who’s mother worked as a recep­tion­ist at a children’s hos­pi­tal in New­cas­tle. She wouldn’t have a bad word said about Bel­lamy because there was one child in par­tic­u­lar he would put things off to visit and he was one of the friend­liest footballer’s you could ever meet, a lot of the time he wasn’t even going along with the club or to improve his image or any­thing — he just did it because he wanted to help.

I’m not a believer in cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment or the death penalty — you want an eye for an eye then you’re a hyp­ocrite. I don’t think King deserves absolute for­give­ness — he was found guilty of a crime and was right­fully pun­ished for it — his actions were dis­gust­ing. The fact is most of this could be stopped with the right guid­ance, play­ers like Bar­ton and King are from areas of the low­est eco­nomic class — crime is every­where in their envi­ron­ment. The major­ity of peo­ple who are in prison come from these sort of areas, as a lack of oppor­tu­ni­ties and no prospects can lead a num­ber of peo­ple to crime and I don’t want to get into the whole “nature/nurture debate” but you basi­cally learn from your envi­ron­ment. Sir Alex Fer­gu­son once said he believed that if Paul Gas­coigne had signed for Man Utd instead of Tot­ten­ham (he chose Spurs because their chair­man bought Gazza’s par­ents a new house in Gateshead), he wouldn’t have had as many prob­lems with things such as alco­holism and depres­sion as he had. You give some of these lads all this money and put them in a com­pet­i­tive and alpha male envi­ron­ment and they’re going to go on their instincts and act out when things don’t go their way.

To say that Mar­lon King can’t go back to work is some­what ille­gal, but in my opin­ion he should give proof that he is really mak­ing a pos­i­tive effort to reha­bil­i­tate him­self and become a pos­i­tive part of soci­ety. We are sup­posed to live in a for­giv­ing soci­ety, but this is the sec­ond time King has come out of prison (the first was for pur­chas­ing a stolen BMW, he was found not guilty of assault­ing a police offi­cer though) and that would lead many to think that he already had his sec­ond chance. The money foot­ballers earn make this a dif­fi­cult sub­ject for many, peo­ple do not like the fact that an ex-convict can walk out of prison and then receive their yearly salary in one week and in King’s case, some of his pre­vi­ous offences are dis­gust­ing and it is under­stand­able why so many believe he is a ter­ri­ble person.

For me, I look at the likes of Tony Adams and Paul Mer­son who made big mis­takes in their career but were keen to see that they could pre­vent this in the future by start­ing the sport­ing chance clinic which has helped the likes of Joey Bar­ton get his life back on track. Mer­son is now a love­able pun­dit for Sky Sports and Tony Adam’s is man­ag­ing some Azer­bai­jani team (suc­cess) and their past prob­lems are almost over­shad­owed by the fact that they now play a big part in help­ing peo­ple learn from their mis­takes. Mr. King could take a note out of their book, he is cer­tainly not a house­hold name or what I would con­sider a role model to young kids (if any­one wanted to put that as their argu­ment then present me the child who dreams of becom­ing the next Mar­lon King) but a lot of these play­ers changed their ways and decided they would help oth­ers. If you want to get back involved with the pro­fes­sion you love after ruin­ing your chance then why not help pre­vent this from hap­pen­ing in the future.

I’m all for King return­ing if he wants to stop young play­ers in sim­i­lar sit­u­a­tions to him make the same mis­takes — if he is help­ing the prob­lem as opposed to being part of it then his past issues and offences should not even come under con­sid­er­a­tion. But there is always that fear: fool me 14 times, shame on you — fool me 15 times, shame on me.


www.championshiptalk.com/does-marlon-king-deserve-another-chance-in-football/884

[obk]

This club, which I have supported since the 80s can, quite frankly, go F*** themselves if they sign King. As long as they keep him at the club I for one will not buy anything from the club shop or come over to watch any matches. I will speak badly about the club to everyone I know. How could I do anything else? Signing him would be sinking lower than low, it is a disgrace.

[The Scooter]

Laressa is probably the one where you will get the most impact. Ali Russell does also answer a few emails too.....usual format email addresses...

[klr]

If QPR sign the Nonce Marlon King, I will run on the pitch at Loftus Road cover myself in petrol & with a lighter in my hand I will demand that marlon Kings contract is ripped up in front of my very eyes & the nonce is sent straight back to prison to serve out the rest of his sentence, just when you thought things were looking serious at QPR we have to have this entirely avoidable "situation" I'm afraid for me, it reeks of Paladini & Briatore throwing the proverbial spanner in the works a la the previous two seasons, this shall not be allowed to pass.

Italians out of QPR.

No Nonces to play for QPR.

[eusebio13]

Aug 9, 2010 16:32:25 GMT @klr said:

If QPR sign the Nonce Marlon King, I will run on the pitch at Loftus Road cover myself in petrol & with a lighter in my hand I will demand that marlon Kings contract is ripped up in front of my very eyes & the nonce is sent straight back to prison to serve out the rest of his sentence, just when you thought things were looking serious at QPR we have to have this entirely avoidable "situation" I'm afraid for me, it reeks of Paladini & Briatore throwing the proverbial spanner in the works a la the previous two seasons, this shall not be allowed to pass.

Italians out of QPR.

No Nonces to play for QPR.

KLR goes Buddhist Monk

[blockhead]

blimey, strike a light!

I think he will sign for Coventry on thursday.

[obk]

I've sent a mail to the club as well, not that I think it matters, but sometimes you just have to let them know how you feel.

[sharpy]

How has he become a "Nonce",have i missed something ?