Disgraced King will join new club - agent

Disgraced footballer Marlon King will be signed by another club when his jail sentence is finished, his agent insisted.

The player was told he would be sacked by Wigan on Wednesday after being jailed for 18 months for breaking a woman's nose and sexual assault. His agent Tony Finnegan said that prison would change the striker and that he had career prospects on release.

"There are lots of players in this country who have fallen short of the law, done the crime, done the time, come out, and I'm sure if you're sitting in a six by six you do have time to reflect on the change you make as a person in your life," Finnegan told Sky Sports News. ""Forget about playing football here, just as a human being you're going to be different. He still will be a good goalscorer and I'm sure someone will want his signature to play football and do the job that he's best at."

Mr Finnegan accused Wigan chairman Dave Whelan of playing "white knight" in sacking King.

"He was playing white knight in my opinion to say 'right we don't want that here'," Finnegan said. "You can't just dismiss an employee and think you can dismiss him publicly like that, the union get in on it."

The agent said the Professional Footballers' Association would now have to get involved to "find out the facts".

King, from Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire will lose more than £1million following the termination of his £35,000-a-week contract.

Mr Whelan said: "We have to follow the rules and regulations, which means we will have to give him 40 days' notice that his contract will be cancelled. He is absolutely sacked - we will not tolerate football players who get sent to jail for 18 months. As far as we are concerned, he is finished with football at Wigan Athletic."