A WAR OF WORDS has broken out over the claims made by Jamaica that they expelled Marlon King from their squad ahead of the friendly international against England at Old Trafford tomorrow.

Jamaica said that they had sent home the Watford forward for being rude and unapologetic after he broke a curfew on Tuesday night and then directed abuse towards the team management at a disciplinary meeting. King denies that and claims that he left the squad because he returned with two players at 2am to the hotel in Manchester to find that their rooms were locked. He claims that after he had left the hotel at 10pm, an 11.30pm meeting was called at which a curfew was immediately set.

“We didn’t think there was going to be a meeting at 11.30pm,” King said. “I spoke to the Jamaican Football Federation president [Crenston Boxhill] and said, ‘If you felt disrespected in any way I apologise, I want to play for my country, if you let me know what the situation is’. I was never axed. I left the camp.”

The two other players, Jason Euell, the Charlton Athletic forward, and Jamal Campbell-Ryce, the Colchester midfield player, have been fined 50 per cent of their match fees. “They have been reinstated for whatever reason and I’m going to spend some time with my family,” King said.

Jamaica have denied that King raised concerns about “the organisation and practice conditions” of the facilities, as he claimed through Watford yesterday. “There was more to it than just breaking curfew and coming [back] late, Marlon King was rude,” Boxhill said.

“In the discussion that the management team had, he was quite unapologetic, which was what really warranted him being expelled from the camp. If one of your children breaks the rules, you deal with it accordingly. Now it is time to put the matter behind us.”

Jamaica lost 4-1 to Ghana in a friendly on Monday. Deon Burton, the Sheffield Wednesday forward, has been drafted in as a replacement for King.

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