Marlon King is a Jamaican striker, who was born on April 26, 1980 in Dulwich, England. He debuted for the Jamaican national football team in a friendly match against Ghana on May 29, 2006. After his time with various clubs, he returned to the national squad in February 2008 and played in a 1-1 draw with Costa Rica, in which he provided the cross for Jamaica's goal. In the absence of Ricardo Garner, Marlon King was named the captain of the team and also scored a goal in the friendly match vs. Trinidad and Tobago.
Marlon King started his career at the Dulwich Hamlet F.C before becoming an apprentice at the Barnet F.C. He made 60 first-team appearances during his stint with Barnet and moved to the Gillingham F.C. in 2000, and he established himself as the club’s main striker. Among 101 games he played for this club, the highlight of his career was the strike against Chelsea at the Stamford Bridge in the 2002 FA Cup. In 2003, he joined the Nottingham Forest F.C. and was loaned to Leeds United in March 2005, after playing 57 games and scoring 15 goals. Marlon King delighted the fans of Nottingham Forest by netting a spectacular winning goal against West Ham United.
Marlon King went on loan to the Watford F.C. in the summer of 2005, and he scored 12 goals in 21 games as the club featured in the upper-reaches of the table. His transfer to the club was completed in January 2006 and Marlon King finished as the top scorer with 21 goals in the Football League Championship of the 2005-06 season. He scored in the 3-0 win over Crystal Palace in the semi-final first leg win, ensuring 3rd place for Watford. Marlon King earned the club’s ‘Player of the season’ title, after playing in the second leg, and in the 3-0 victory over Leeds, which promoted Watford to the Premiership.
Marlon King scored his debut Premiership goal against the West Ham United F.C. in the second game of the new season. His 100th goal in domestic competition was also his second Premiership goal, the first in a 3-3 draw against Fulham on October 2, 2006. Marlon King recuperated from an injury and made a comeback on April 14, 2007 as a substitute in the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United at Villa Park. Watford returned to the Championship after speculations in the 2007-08 season and Marlon King scored 10 goals before the end of 2that season.
On January 25, 2008, Marlon King moved to Wigan Athletic F.C, on a three and a half year contract for a whopping £4m and reportedly doubled his wages to £40,000. He opened his account with the club by scoring against Blackburn Rovers on March 22, 2008. Hull City F.C. agreed to sign him on a loan basis on August 13, 2008.
