Marlon transfer - not such a bad move after all?
26/11/03 | by Carl Blackborow

The dust is settling, the anger retreating and optimism returning. What a difference a day makes. Dawn on Monday the loyal Trickies hear that Marlon Harewood, top scorer this season with 12 league goals, has been sold to West Ham United for a paltry £500,000. Half a million? Has Nigel Doughty been out on the piss?

Then the facts make themselves known. Marlon had apparently refused the offer of a new contract. Why are we not surprised? Rumour circulates that the contract offer was offering less than he is being paid now. Why are we not surprised?

Forest are now left with just one recognised striker. A striker who has missed pre-season through injury. A striker just returning to full fitness and a striker who has scored only two goals in 14 games. So can anybody, let alone Doughty, blame us for accusing this club of a lack of ambition?

But is this such a bad move from the Forest chairman? Let's take the past six weeks: Walsall, Bradford, Watford, Wigan, West Ham, Millwall, Portsmouth and as far back as Stoke City. Hands up who can remember Marlon making a worthwhile contribution to those games? Didn't think so.

Ok, he scored a goal against Wigan. But from four yards out I think Ebby would have scored. It even had to be deflected in. His lack of effort in recent games seems to have been overlooked. The status of scapegoat for Forest's lack of victories and progress these past few weeks and months has fallen, unfairly I might add, on the shoulders of the chairman Nigel Doughty and even more so on Gareth Taylor.

Anyone at the JJB Stadium on Saturday would have seen that it was by far Taylor's best game in a Garibaldi shirt. Every header he won. Every loose ball from those, Marlon was 15 yards away from. Or 15 yards offside, as is his custom. Now that Gareth Taylor is nearing full fitness, we might just see the best of him.

I am not for a minute saying that Taylor is a great player, but let's have some patience. Look how long we have persevered with Marlon. As a raw teenager in the hazy days of the Premier League he couldn't hit a cow's backside with an electric guitar, never mind a banjo.

It was his work ethic and fighting spirit that endeared him to us. We loved him for it. So last season everyone was shocked when he smashed 21 goals in all, and we expected a repeat this season. It looked as though he would achieve this by Christmas such was the rate of his goals tally. But then it dried up.

Barring the goals against Rotherham and Wimbledon, he has hardly looked like the player we know and love. At half-time on Saturday he apparently had an altercation with Ian Bowyer. At full-time there was another incident with Des Walker. His commitment to the club over the past few weeks has been questionable and with the wonderful creation of hindsight, we can probably now see why.

The thumping of his chest and salutes to the crowd are all well and good, but if he doesn't want to play for the club and has his heart set on signing a better deal elsewhere, fair play to him. That's football. But I hope he doesn't expect a good reception when he returns to the City Ground in December with the Hammers.

So what now for Forest? Well, the news is that we have agreed a fee for the Gillingham striker Marlon King. A proven goalscorer at this level with Gillingham. Just imagine the service he gets there, and then the service he will get from the likes of Reidy and Super Gareth Williams.

He also brings with him a criminal record and damaged cruciates - a career threatening injury. The boy definitely has baggage, but for the £950,000 fee, it is a risk worth taking when Taylor is the only striker we have available. The ironic point is though, that when Forest offered over £1 million for him, it was rejected. We wanted King then to go alongside Harewood. Now it is his replacement. I hope the fans give him all the backing he should deserve and not place too much expectation on his shoulders.

This season is almost a dead loss. We must compete to the best of our ability in every single game and hope beyond all hope that it is good enough to be positioned around the play-offs until Johnson returns, which will be the most welcome sight since we played our last Premier League game.

Life goes on. King Marlon is dead. Let's hope we prosper from Marlon King.

Any comments on this or any other articles? E-mail: carloscaminos@hotmail.com