Fulham boss Roy Hodgson has revealed Marlon King was not signed by the club because of a previous conviction. The former Wigan striker was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Thursday for sexually assaulting a woman and actual bodily harm, and was sacked by the Latics just one hour after the guilty verdict.

"I think we got lucky in that we didn't sign him. I'd only just come to the club and didn't know the player at all," he said.

"All I knew about him was his goalscoring record and the information I was able to gather, which was not sufficiently detailed.

"There was a problem with the medical and it also became a problem when we found out he had a jail sentence.

"Mohamed Al Fayed was not at all keen on that so the transfer was allowed to collapse and he went to Wigan instead."