Barbed Wire wrote:
On the King element. I’m not sure the money is the issue. Yes, he is overpaid and the club fell for some very clever work by his agent, but the narrative was that he was seen to be a bad apple. So much of a bad apple that he needed to be immediately removed from the squad and it was also justifiable to loan him to one of the title contenders while contributing to his salary.
So is he now a reformed character. Or was this narrative false all along and it was actually a finance decision to free up cap space to bring in forwards?
I don’t mind King as a player. And I don’t particularly mind that he and his agent took the club for mugs and cashed in, that’s the board and Powell’s problem. But, he’s on a hiding to nothing coming back here unless there is some clarity on why he was moved on in such a fashion. If the club let us believe that he was a bad apple, he will be under the microscope from minute one.
I'm not a fan of King one those wages, and he was a bit of a weak character at the time by all accounts.
However... (and that's a big HOWEVER)... Powell did say he was sending king out to 'freshen him up' in a new environment. Despite the rumours on social media, I haven't seen anywhere that Powell isn't prepared to give him a second chance. We know that King wasn't buying into the 'one team' idea with the motorway services debacle, but he was sent out to Wigan to grow up a bit, and maybe that is working. Powell certainly has a record of improving players who for whatever reason didn't reach their potential, so maybe shipping King out is part of the plan. Maybe he'll come back with a clean slate and an open mind and we can start from scratch with him.
I haven't seen King show a massive improvement at Wigan, but then their style plays on his current strengths rather than developing a new side to his game. Let's hope the change of scenery has reset his attitude a bit.