London - Striker Marlon King was jailed for 18 months and sacked by Wigan Athletic on Thursday after being convicted of assaulting a woman in a nightclub. The 29-year-old broke the woman's nose after she had spurned his advances.
Wigan chairman Dave Whelan said: "We have to follow the rules and regulations, which means we will have to give him 40 days' notice that his contract will be cancelled.
"He is absolutely sacked - we will not tolerate football players who get sent to jail for 18 months. As far as we are concerned, he is finished with football at Wigan Athletic."
King insisted he was the victim of "mistaken identity," but a series of witnesses, including a football coach, said they had seen King strike the woman.
He had been celebrating scoring the winner for Hull City, for whom he was on loan at the time, and his wife's pregnancy in the Revue Bar in Soho when the incident occurred.
The court heard how the Jamaica international had been repeatedly cold-shouldered by a number of women when he approached the 20-year- old university student.
When she too shunned him, he lashed out, striking her so hard that two other people present, one of whom was holding his arm, were knocked back.
King was convicted of sexual assault and actual bodily harm.
