Osama Bin Laden would be welcomed into football if he had enough money, so why wouldn't Marlon King get a new club after prison?

By Darren Lewis

Published 13:50 03/11/09

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it's been nigh on incredible to see the way football has deluded itself into thinking Marlon King will not find another club.

He is 29, will probably serve ten months of his 18 month jail sentence for sexual assault and actual bodily harm, and could even come out fitter than he went in.

If that is the case then does anybody seriously believe he will struggle to find a club.

The stance of the Wigan chairman Dave Whelan the other day in sacking King was indeed admirable. But then Whelan does like a bit of grandstanding in front of Sky Sports' cameras.

Remember the time, when Wigan were promoted to the premier league a few years ago, that he insisted he would not be moving for foreign players, only to backtrack when the club failed to attract the English stars he wanted?

You can bet your boots that if King was 23 and scoring 25 goals a season there is no way on earth Whelan would have sacked him. No chance.

Just look at Joey Barton's (c)rap sheet. Go to his Wikipedia page and pick your way through the "controversial incidents and disciplinary problems" that have marred his career.

Yet two years ago, after his four-month suspended prison sentence (plus community service) for his brutal assault on team-mate Ousmane Dabo, Newcastle United were quick to snap him up from Manchester City. They beat off sustained interest from West Ham and paid £5.8million for the privilege.

Everybody knows about Barton's crimes and misdemeanours since he has been at St James's Park and even though it is believed that Newcastle are looking at ways to ease him out, Blackburn are known to be interested, as are Bolton.

Its not just Barton. What about Lee Hughes, sacked by West Brom after being found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving back in August 2004, but snapped up by Oldham after being released from prison.

Hughes served six years after driving into an oncoming car after a whisky-drinking session, killing a father of four and leaving another man permanently disabled.

What about Woodgate and Bowyer who, as youngsters, were involved in the incident outside the Leeds nightclub which resulted in a student suffering severe injuries?

To be fair to both of them, they - along with Hughes - have cleaned up their respective acts considerably since then whereas Barton and King have continued to re-offend and yet clubs will still take them.

Why? Because the bottom line is that they can still do the business on the pitch. And that's the trouble with football. If Osama Bin Laden wanted to buy a club, wipe out the debt and invest £50million into turning any given team into an outfit to challenge Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United for a place in the top four, he would be welcomed with open arms.

And if a player can score goals a season, or has the world at his feet as a defender, a midfielder or as a rising star in any other position, there will always be a place for him in our so-called 'beautiful game'.

When my colleague James Nursey condemned West Brom fans for welcoming striker Roman Bednar back like a conquering hero following his three-month FA ban for possessing cocaine and cannibis, he was vilified by Baggies supporters.

Nursey had argued that Albion didn't want to boot our a marksman who had scored 17 goals in 2007-08 when the club were last in the Championship. And he was right.

In football, ethics is a place to the east of London. If you or I went down for half the things some players get banged up for, we could expect to pick up our P45's.

But in football, good players will always survive once the controversy over their misdeeds blow over. Liverpool stuck by Jan Molby after he was jailed for a driving offence and he repaid them with a cameo role in their title winning season.

Tony Adams was probably the best organiser of a defensive wall around back in the day but, after he knocked one down in his car and ended up in the front room of an elderly couple while under the influence, he went to prison for four months. He too was welcomed back by Arsenal and went on to win silverware with/for them.

Jermaine Pennant, Jamie Lawrence (robbery with violence) and Duncan Ferguson are just some of the others who have been sent down for offences that would have gotten the man in the street sacked from his place of employment. Yet all of them continued to play their trade in football on their release.

So, shocking as pictures of the woman assaulted by Marlon King may be, he will be back. You can talk until the cows come home about how bad it is but football, like King himself, has form for that.

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