Confirmation if any were needed

If a week is a long time in politics, then it certainly is in the world of football transfers.

Just seven days ago, the positive news that Marlon King had verbally agreed to remain with Coventry City was greeted with delight by the fans, happy that a major part of Andy Thorn’s new team had been happy to stay.

Having failed to heed the lessons of countless years of disappointment, City fans allowed themselves to get their hopes up on hearing that King had ‘verbally agreed’ to sign a new contract with the club. It looked like an ambitious move by the Sky Blues despite their financial woes and on the part of the player a recognition perhaps that he had been helped in his rehabilitation by Aidy Boothroyd, Andy Thorn and everyone at the Ricoh Arena.

Now we know that King is the same as most other footballers (and employees in general) and has decided that he will take the bigger money on offer from Birmingham City rather than stick with their near neighbours.

Player power is all in the football world and that has worked against the Sky Blues in this instance.

The claim and counter-claim about two or three-year deals, emails sent or not sent and all the rest of it is neither here or there. If a player wants to move on he will and that has been to Coventry’s advantage in the past as much as it goes against them here, so talk from the top of being ‘betrayed’ by King and his advisor shows a certain naivety with how things work in football.

As Andy Thorn has said it would have been nice had King took other issues into account when making his decision but he hasn’t and City need to move on with some good signings to build on the work of the final ten games of last season. For the fans it is perhaps time to accept that it is the Sky Blue shirts and not the players in them that deserve their support from now on.