By Paul Holmes
June 12 2002

Gillingham jailed striker Marlon King may be released early as part of a 'tagging' scheme where the prisoner must wear a 'tagging' device around their ankle. King was jailed early this year for driving a stolen BMW and was handed a 18 month spell in jail.

Gillingham chairman Paul Scally told of the story to the clubs official website

"I understand this scheme is available to certain categories of prisoners on a special licence after they have served a minimum of a quarter of their sentence, but it is at the prison governor's discretion.

"I know that Marlon is making every effort to rehabilitate himself, and I am very hopeful he might be considered. I think he deserves this chance.

I believe Marlon is more foolish than criminal and he should be entitled to get on with his punishment and then allowed to get back to playing football for Gillingham."

King would not be the first footballer to play whilst wearing a tag. Ipswich's Gary Croft became the first pofessional footballer to play whilst wearing a 'tag' a few years ago in a reserve match.