The possibility of Coventry City signing Marlon King has moved a little closer today after comments made by King's agent Tony Finnigan.
King and his family, along with Finnigan, were guests of City manager Aidy Boothroyd at The Ricoh last Saturday, to watch City beat Derby County 2-1 and both the player and agent were very impressed with the arena and the Coventry.
The one big stumbling block preventing the signing of King is that City chairman Ray Ranson will not compromise on his wages policy, so King will not be getting the best possible financial package he could if he opted to join Coventry City. He could get a much more lucrative deal elsewhere.
Finnigan was as impressed with the City set up as King was and admitted he had a 'great feeling' during his visit to The Ricoh Arena.
He said to the CT:"The guy wants to play some football and be part of something special and Coventry ticks all those boxes. I was really, really impressed. We kept saying in the box 'look at this place, the stadium, the facilities, the crowd."
"There's 600,000 people in the city, it wouldn't take a lot to get it going and you'll have 30,000 people here and imagine this place full! If he does go there I'm sure he can be a talisman and with people like Lee Carsley help lead them to a new level."
"Aidy and he had a great time together, they transformed Watford and they could do that again in Coventry."
"It's very important to be able to work with somebody you trust on and off the pitch. Marlon and Aidy had a very special relationship and that's definitely a big factor, the biggest factor."
"I remember the journey at Watford very well; it was a wonderful, wonderful period and I'm sure he'd love to rekindle that again."
Finnigan, himself a former professional footballer who played for over 100 games for Crystal Palace and had spells at Blackburn, Hull, Swindon, Barnet and Fulham, admitted he had spoken to several other clubs about King, but explained, "It's difficult for me, because half the people I'm talking to I played with or against and I don't want them thinking 'Tony's using us'."
QPR and Portsmouth are though to be interested in signing King and have approached Finnigan to make enquiries. Finnigan also confirmed that some Premier League clubs have also expressed an interest.
King was sacked by Wigan following his conviction for assaulting a woman and sentenced to eighteen months in prison. He was released at the end of July on licence after serving nine months.