Shock move as King heads home

In a shock move that will not please some fans, Folkestone Invicta have sold prolific scorer Stuart King back to Ryman South rivals Herne Bay, writes Mick Cork.

King, pictured, returned to his hometown club on Tuesday, little over two years after arriving at Cheriton Road. Rumours have linked Bay boss Sam Denly with a move to bring the striker, who is 26 in eight day's time, back to Winch’s Field.

Invicta manager Neil Cugley admitted: "They came in about a month or so ago and made an offer for him, which we turned down, but they upped the offer and, after talking to Stuart last week, we have decided it’s best to let him go.

"He spoke to me about going to Herne Bay last week, and didn’t really want to leave. His biggest problem is that he’s now working in Medway most of the time and getting here for training was becoming very difficult for him. He’s also having to work Saturday mornings, which could have proved a major a problem when we’re travelling away."

Cugley says that despite money changing hands, cash wasn't a deciding factor for either the player or Invicta. He insisted: "I want to stress very strongly that the money is not a factor here, and to be fair to Stuart, he’s not a money-grabbing lad at all – he wasn’t one of our highest paid players, though that might surprise some people.

"I don’t like saying anything about players going and coming before the paperwork has all gone through, which is why I’ve not spoken about it up till now. Kingy’s goalscoring record is quite incredible, but when you look at it, our results have been better without him than when we’ve had him in the side."

"But it’s important to stress again that money wasn’t the issue here. We don’t need to sell any of our players and we’re in a far healthier position than we were. I’ve enjoyed managing Stuart since he came to us but if his head’s not right you learn to move on. I think his sending off last weekend underlined that things have not been quite right.

"It’s taken a lot longer than I’d hoped, but I really do believe we’re getting close to having a really good squad here now - and a really great spirit in the side, as we showed on Saturday. We’ve got a really good goalkeeper in Tim Roberts now and a good attacking midfielder in Michael Yianni, with others like Luch (Dane Luchford), (Jake) Beecroft and (Phil) Stevenson all playing well."

Meanwhile, Cugley also revealed on Tuesday that outstanding young striker Johan Ter Horst is now only a couple of weeks away from returning from injury. He said: "Johan’s a terrific young player and it will be a huge boost for us to get him back. He’s very important to the way we want to play."