Now it looks more than likely that Marlon King has gone back on his word after he agreed to the terms on offer at Coventry City and he now will join Birmingham City.
King has blamed Coventry City for the failure and claimed that that they were too slow to to offer the three year deal he wanted in writing.
However City boss Andy Thorn has rubbished these claims and publicly stated his version of events.
Thorn revealed that just 24 hours after taking the cal from King in which he agreed to stay at Coventry, he learnt that King and his adviser Tony Finnigan were holding talks with Birmingham City.
An angry Thorn said to the CT: “I feel betrayed on a personal and professional level by what has happened. I have no idea what sort of advice he has been given but I think he should have considered how well he has done here, the way the supporters have backed him and accepted him."
“What Marlon is claiming simply does not stack up. He spoke to me last Thursday to confirm he wanted to stay, the story came out in the media that he had agreed to stay with us, yet 24 hours later we heard rumours that he was talking to Birmingham.”
For his part King told the Coventry Telegraph, “I haven’t done anything wrong. Yes I did phone the manager because I was happy with the three year deal and I was willing to sign. I said let’s do it, I want to sign. I said get the contract over to me but that didn’t materialise."
"I called my adviser, Tony Finnigan, and asked what was going on and he said nothing had come through on the computer in writing. I spoke to the manager and he said he’d get the chairman to ring me but no-one rang me so I told Tony to put a statement out."
“I eventually spoke to the chairman, who asked for my email address, which I thought he had because he obviously had Tony’s contact details and in that space of time Birmingham had come up with a three year contract that I was happy with, so I just did what anyone else would have done. What do I do, wait or grab an opportunity while it is in front of me?”
King went on to give a few more details about the negotiations between his party and Coventry City where he revealed that he had initially been offered a two year deal, but he wanted a three year deal. Coventry City later said they would give him his desired three year deal, but only verbally.
King explained, “In that space of time I spoke to four other clubs who offered me two year deals and even though they were offering more money I didn’t want two years, I wanted three. I am no spring chicken, I am 31 not 21 and I have got to do what’s best for my family. Ideally I wish it was at Cov but not everything was right, so it didn’t happen."
“The club have been great to me and I enjoyed playing with the boys. I told Thorny I enjoyed working with him and we are all disappointed but I have got to do what’s best for Marlon King. And that’s just being honest."
Coventry City dismissed King's version of events and Thorn said, "The agreement was that we would draw up a written contract for when he returned from holiday, but he and his adviser spoke to Birmingham almost immediately. I am staggered and dismayed at what has happened."
"I could not have been happier for everyone at the club when Marlon rang me to tell me of this decision, but that did not last long. Footballers, of course, have to consider their careers but perhaps Marlon should have considered just what Coventry City and our supporters have done for him."
“Clearly that meant very little and that is a real shame. It reflects very badly on him and his adviser. We are continuing with our plans to build a squad and a team capable of performing well in the Championship and producing the brand of football we know our supporters appreciate.”
Coventry City Chairman Ken Dulieu said that King’s adviser, Tony Finnigan had made assurances to him that King would sign the contract that had been agreed after the usual negotiations, but backed out of the agreement at the last minute.
Mr Dulieu echoed Thorn's sentiment that he felt betrayed by the U-turn by King and said: “We are fuming about this and feel we have been betrayed."
"We had reached agreement with Marlon and his adviser and verbally everything was settled and agreed, and now we find out that a deal has been done with Birmingham. The club and our supporters have fully backed Marlon on his return to the game and I think we deserve better than this.
"We have shown great faith in him, helped him rebuild his career and were delighted that he was due to continue playing for us. To hear that he has now changed his mind and gone back on what had been agreed, is very hard to take.”