I came away from the forums for a few days to avoid sounding like a broken record, but once again i have to say that the prospect of us signing King is disappointing. I'm almost resigned to defeat on this one now, he's signing, and i guess that's the end of it, but i feel deeply let down by the club and some of it's fans for their views on this man. He is a man that has shown no respect for anyone in a long long time. He's wounded people, attacked people, spent time in jail and is even now on the sex offenders register, yet we think he deserves another chance. I'm afraid he already had what....12? He's up to 13 convictions, we cannot say he deserves another chance when he's screwed up so many times in the past.
Should he kick a football again, NO. And for the record, should Lee Hughes, NO! Joey Barton, NO! Criminals should not be allowed royal treatment. They get looked upon favourably in court, get reduced sentences, and walk straight back into football. It's a sad state of affairs to be honest. I was hoping that we, Coventry City, would be strong enough to show a bit of class and not just fall into the typical "he's served his time", "he's a changed man" lines. Weather we're happy about it or not, footballers are role-models. With the amount of money they earn they should set an example. They are in the public eye, and the kids look up to these guys as role-models they so desperately want to copy. The signing of this man shows to the kids out there that as long as they're good at kicking a ball around they can get away with whatever they like. I'm beginning to wonder if there are any morals left in anything in life anymore!
This is the wrong option in terms of the image of the club, and the image of the fans. So what if he might come in and bag 20 goals? He might also get annoyed at the big bloke in the front row calling him scum for 90 minutes and then oops, back to court he goes. This is not sensible, and it seems like we've just fallen into the easiest option possible, got tunnel vision and ignored just what this guy has done in the past.
I'm bitterly disappointed that we're willing to look past the fact he's a criminal just on the chance he might score a few goals. When did football become more important than morals, standards, class, gentlemanly conduct......if you believe it's more important than those than i'm afraid you should stop and take a long hard look at yourself. Why couldn't we have gone for McCormack? Why not wait for Premier League sides to name their 25's and get ourself an up-and-coming major talent for a season? We've sold out saying that King is the 'only' option. It's a bag of bollocks and everyone here knows that.
I honestly think this is a sad sad day for Coventry City Football Club. I'll still be at that game against Leicester supporting the team, but by the team i mean the players on the pitch not called Marlon King. He wouldnt be 'deserving' of another chance if he wasn't a footballer, which i suppose in a way shows that this game, and afterall it is only a game, has become too money and power driven that people actually believe it comes above some of the most basic and important values in life.
I've found this story depressing to follow. I was very much hoping that somewhere along the road someone would show me that there were still some morals in the game of football, but unfortunately this has just gone to prove that somewhere, somehow, it's all gone drastically wrong. Football is not life, and it is certainly not above the law and above being a nice human being. Sadly some don't see that anymore.
Sad, disheartened, and resigned to defeat.
Gouldberg, over and out