Where would you draw the line?

[Captain...]

I was reminded of something that came up in the pub a while ago, after seeing El Hadji Diouf, one of the more unpleasant individuals on the pitch yesterday, and having come up against Birmingham and Marlon King (convicted sex offender) 3 times this season and seeing recently that Lee Hughes is still playing for Notts County despite being charged with sexual assault (not to mention having served prison time for death by dangerous driving and leaving the scene of an accident). Then there is Mattock hitting a girl in Leicester.

So would you be happy if any of these players played for Leicester and how would you react if we signed them?

We have signed an ex-con before in Jamie Lawrence, who was arrested and convicted for bank robbery and Collymore was welcomed with open arms despite hitting Ulrika Johnson, but then he was an awesome footballer.

So what about more talented footballers, does footballing talent excuse misdemeanors.

Would you forgive John Terry, Luis Suarez or Ryan Giggs if they signed for Leicester?

[cc_star]

Suarez, Terry, Marlon King, Hughes... No

Giggs, Colly & others yes... think it comes down to character, are they humble, sorry, contrite etc

[Jace]

Giggs is too old for us now and Marshall is better anyway

[Guest Bilo]

Ryan Giggs in the same category as Marlon King seems very harsh on the former.

I wouldn't that piece of scum playing for us, an insult to every female supporter of our club if he did.

[HEGGSY]

Ryan Giggs in the same category as Marlon King seems very harsh on the former.

I wouldn't that piece of scum playing for us, an insult to every female supporter of our club if he did.

Agreed.

[Leicester_Loyal]

Depends on what they'd done.

[Guest BlueBrett]

if someone cheats on their wife/girlfriend I genuinely couldn't care less. Happens the world over and I'm sure half the posters on here have done it at some point. If someone batters a woman or comes across as an all round willy puller than I'd rather we didn't sign them. Our fans get confused enough when Wellens has a good game so I can't imagine what it would be like if we signed someone like Diouf and he scored.

[Guest bss9401]

Giggs not in the same category?? He screwed his own brother's wife for several years for f's sake. I think that qualifies as a serious character flaw. Footballers will have to face the fact that they are extremely highly paid and their personal lives are not their own and many clubs will turn them away as a result.

[Stevosevic]

Murder/Causing death by driving/drink driving/rape etc.... that is the line for me.

Robbery, cheating on girl friends, hitting girl friends etc... acceptable to play for my club if they are genuinely sorry and do not repeat offend. (apart from the cheating on girl friends, i couldn't care less)

[Raw Dykes]

I'd say I'd hate to have any racists, women-beaters, rapists, sex pests or drunk drivers who've killed here. I've never booed one of our players, but if anyone deserves it, it's these people.

I wouldn't be bothered if we signed a player who'd cheated on their wives or girlfriends. Even though it's a pretty horrible thing to do, it's nowhere near as bad as the other things.

[class 1]

listen to collymore on talksport [ download the podcast of my sporting life ] hes honest about his ongoing problems , but what a player . on to king , hughes & the like no fvcking way , would have to really consider my season ticket

[ian the fox]

Couldnt love Marlon King or Andy Carroll.............. could forgive any player that cant keep it indoors aka Frank Worthington , Ryan Giggs

[Ozwin]

Ryan Giggs tapped this.

I'd welcome him with open arms and give that man a high five.

[flowwolf]

Giggs not in the same category?? He screwed his own brother's wife for several years for f's sake. I think that qualifies as a serious character flaw. Footballers will have to face the fact that they are extremely highly paid and their personal lives are not their own and many clubs will turn them away as a result.

Hang on Giggs didn't rape anyone she is just as bad as him in the morality stakes, what kind of woman shags her husbands brother for two years behind his back ? There is no way should she ever be allowed to play for us end of.

[Tielemans63]

We have signed an ex-con before in Jamie Lawrence, who was arrested and convicted for bank robbery and Collymore was welcomed with open arms despite hitting Ulrika Johnson, but then he was an awesome footballer.

Don't forget Dennis Wise who as well as being a useless moaning cnut, was also convicted of assaulting a taxi driver.

Ps on a side note, what Giggs did was truly disgusting and abhorrent but for me you can't put him in the same category as Marlon King. King has been convicted of rape and separately of assaulting a woman - Giggs may have no morals whatsoever but he's not a rapist - that's as low as you can go in my book. Still, that's just my opinion!

[Guest BlueBrett]

Hang on Giggs didn't rape anyone she is just as bad as him in the morality stakes, what kind of woman shags her husbands brother for two years behind his back ? There is no way should she ever be allowed to play for us end of.

exactly. and when a bird who looks like the above puts the moves on you its hard to say no. speaking from experience obviously

[Kitchandro]

Everyone does bad things, even some good people have done some very bad things. It's doing them time and time again and showing no remorse that's unacceptable in my eyes.

Marlon King and Giggs would fit into that category, though King's crimes are worse.

I don't respect either, and I've got not time for Suarez and Terry either, because they've shown they've got no class on a number of occassions, albeit with seperate incidents, and to a less serious extent than King.

TBH I wouldn't want any of them playing for my club at all. I could fully understand it if people stopped going because Marlon King was playing for us tbh.

[Oxfordfox83]

Would have to put the scarves in storage if we put Roy Keane in charge-he ought to be in prison for the Haaland confession. Luckily he's sh1t so would be quickly sacked. On a separate note, I'd leave a cold beer on a hot day to smack Dennis Wise's face.

No to King, yes to Giggs, yes to Colly, but only because of his response...

[ozleicester]

So, there is no forgiveness, no acceptance of time served and lesson learnt, of remorse and of a person changing their lives and becoming a "model" citizen.

Geebus, It must be difficult being perfect.

[Raw Dykes]

So, there is no forgiveness, no acceptance of time served and lesson learnt, of remorse and of a person changing their lives and becoming a "model" citizen.

Geebus, It must be difficult being perfect.

If you can call not being a massive racist, not drink driving and killing a person, not beating up or raping women perfect, then I guess you can call me perfect. I'd say your standards for perfection are pretty damn low.

[ozleicester]

If you can call not being a massive racist, not drink driving and killing a person, not beating up or raping women perfect, then I guess you can call me perfect. I'd say your standards for perfection are pretty damn low.

So if you have EVER done ANY of those things... you can never be forgiven, never be allowed to work in your area of choice?

(by the way, do you have to have been caught doing it?... Im pretty confident that almost everyone has been racist at one time or another, as for drink driving...seriously, ask around, how many people have that little embarrassed laugh when they tell you they had to drive home after the party etc.)

[Daggers]

It's a game, not a moral court-room.

There's tons of players who I'd personally think are award winning twats but that's irrelevant because it's only a game.

Because it's a game you consider whether they would change the team mentality and whether they would add to a team performance.

It's a game.

[SaM 12]

i'd welcome balotelli just for pure comedic value! what a legend!

[Zingari]

I draw the line at people who utter the name “Jehovah”

[Captain...]

It's a game, not a moral court-room.

There's tons of players who I'd personally think are award winning twats but that's irrelevant because it's only a game.

Because it's a game you consider whether they would change the team mentality and whether they would add to a team performance.

It's a game.

But would you honestly be happy if we signed Marlon King:

While on loan to Hull City, King was alleged to have headbutted teammate Dean Windass in a casino in Scarborough. Hull City stated that the matter had been dealt with internally, and both players remained with the club.^[40] Windass later described the incident as a "storm in a teacup".

King has convictions for 14 offences, dating from 1997.^[41][42] He received fines, driving bans, community service sentences, a rehabilitation order and orders to pay compensation on convictions including: theft from a person and from a car, criminal damage, and attempting to obtain property by deception; fraudulent use of vehicle licence document, driving without insurance, speeding, drink driving; a wounding incident while playing amateur football, and two cases involving assault of young women rejecting his advances in the Soho area of London.

Two cases have led to imprisonment. In May 2002 he received an eighteen-month prison sentence for receiving stolen goods, in relation to a BMW convertible that he was found driving. He was found not guilty of a charge of assaulting a police officer in a related case. His solicitor commented that "His reputation will be tarnished forever, whatever success he achieves, he'll always be referred to in a Tyson-esque way as someone who has had a criminal past and that is a considerable penalty."^[43][44] Gillingham continued to pay his salary while he was in jail, and supported in his appeal, which resulted in the sentence being reduced to nine months, and he was released on licence after five months, returning to the Gillingham team within two days of his release.^[45]

In December 2008, again in the Soho area, King was arrested on suspicion of punching a 20 year-old female university student in the face, causing a broken nose and split lip for which she was treated in hospital. He was later convicted of sexual assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and sentenced to 18 months in prison and placed on the sex offender register for seven years.^[2] Wigan Athletic immediately initiated the cancellation of his contract.^[46] King’s agent, Tony Finnigan, said he was confident that his client would find a club on his release, which was on 29 July 2010,^[47] and accused the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) of failing to offer support.^[48] Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the PFA, said that the PFA did not represent players when they have broken the law and been convicted on non-footballing matters. It would support members with anger management or other issues if approached but no approach had been made by King.^[16] After his release, he made an appeal against the conviction which was unsuccessful.^[49]

He is clearly good enough at this level as proven by his goals for Birmingham this season, but could you actually chant his name with pride? It is such a long list of offences and not an isolated incident.