At the end of the day King was a free agent in the Summer and could always do what he liked. But when he was trying to get back into football, surely the question should be why didn't we take advantage of that and sign him on a longer deal?
He could have been rubbish, that's why. With the wage we were paying him, we couldn't afford to chuck a 2 or 3 year deal at him in case he flopped.
We would then have had an ageing striker, who was not performing well, but commanding a large wage. They made the right call by offering a 1 year deal to start off with, just a shame we couldn't get it extended.
Because he'd been released from prison after nearly a year of not playing. It was a gamble by both sides... Thought that was made pretty clear at the time
I think it was him/his agent who only wanted this short deal and AB bent over backwards to help him. He was always in the shop window. On reflection, as others have pointed out, this may have been partially rsponsible for his form and whether you get that same contribution when he is less hungry remains to be seen. Thi sis why I like to see small basic contracts heavily loaded with rewards for significant contribution, but again I live in a fantasy world.
Hindsight is 20/20. If he'd have failed to readjust to football after coming out of prison and still had another year or two you'd be calling the board inept for that as well.
Sorry I just don't see it this way. Marlon King was desperate for a move and we were his way back. Every signing we make is a gamble. We should have stuck him on a 1 and half year contract minimum!
We should have added the option for a second year.
How do we know King would have agreed to a 2 year deal 12 months ago?
It was obvious all we were to King was a way back into football and stepping stone to earning more money. He didn't want to stick around any longer than he needed to, I doubt he would have agreed to it