King said: "I want to show Oxford they shouldn't have got rid of me. I suppose I do feel I've got a point to prove, though I'm not really bitter.
"It was a different management then, it was Ian Atkins not Brian Talbot who got rid of me."
The 22-year-old, who played mostly at left back during his time at the Kassam Stadium, added: "I'm looking forward to playing Oxford, which was the team I've supported all my life. It's been a long time coming.
"When the fixtures came out, the Oxford matches were the first ones that crossed my mind, especially going back there, which is later in the season."
This is King's third season at Underhill, and he says each year has got better.
"It's been a bit of a rollercoaster for me," he said. "I had to drop down into the Conference, but I did well in my first year, then the next year we really kicked on and won the title.
¿The step-up to the Football League is a lot harder than we thought it would be. We started well, then had a bit of a dip but we've picked up again with a couple of draws.
"We came up, and were excited about playing League football, it was a honeymoon period in a way, and we got a few wins.
"Then we started coming up against sides that had dropped down from League One, like Grimsby and Wrexham, who were physically bigger and stronger than we were and we struggled.
"I think in this division a lot of times you've got to grind out results, whereas last year in the Conference we were able to win games even when we were not at our best."
A measure of the task facing United is that, while Shrewsbury comfortably beat them 2-0 at the start of this month, the Bees came away from Shropshire this week with a point.
King said: "We drew 2-2 at Shrewsbury the other night and were a bit unlucky because they scored a late goal to equalise. But we kept to our game plan and kept the ball well. I suppose, at the end of the season, when you look back, you think a point at Gay Meadow isn't such a bad result."
So, not surprisingly, all Simon's friends from the Witney area have been on the phone asking him for a ticket.
"Yes, all my mates have been getting excited about the Man Utd game, so I've had quite a few requests," he added.
"The goal I scored against Plymouth was a volley from the edge of the box, and was my first goal of the season."
Like Ricketts, King looks like a proper footballer because he is comfortable on the ball.
But that has been helped, he says, by his manager's philosophy on playing the ball out from the back.
"I'm still playing left-sided centre half and have been doing well so feel confident," he said.
"I do feel comfortable on the ball. Paul Fairclough wants us to get it off the keeper and play from there rather than have the keeper just kick it upfield. Getting the ball like that and having to use it properly makes you more comfortable.
"I've got a lot of time, I want to establish myself in the League and the good thing here is that there are always a lot of scouts at games because we've got a young team."
King will be fired up to do well against the U's, whose supporters should find Barnet's ground just like their old home.
"I enjoyed my time at Oxford and will go out and enjoy it on Saturday and do my best, which is what I always do anyway," King said.
"There aren't too many players from when I was there, just Chris Hackett and Steve Basham, I think.
"Underhill is a bit like the Manor Ground, a small, tight ground, with a good atmosphere, and of course, there's quite a slope."
United boss Brian Talbot was highly impressed with Simon King when he saw him in Barnet's Carling Cup win against Plymouth.
"Simon King's a good player," Talbot said. "I didn't realise he was at Oxford. He's got a tremendous left foot, is very competitive, and he got an excellent goal.
"It's a shame we let him go ¿ I don't know who did or when he was here ¿ but he looked a good player.
"I came back and said: 'That King's good' and couldn't believe it when my staff said he was here. I said 'was he?' They've got ten other good players, as well so it will be an interesting match. We've just got to reproduce what we did at Rochdale."
"It was a different management then, it was Ian Atkins not Brian Talbot who got rid of me."
The 22-year-old, who played mostly at left back during his time at the Kassam Stadium, added: "I'm looking forward to playing Oxford, which was the team I've supported all my life. It's been a long time coming.
"When the fixtures came out, the Oxford matches were the first ones that crossed my mind, especially going back there, which is later in the season."
This is King's third season at Underhill, and he says each year has got better.
"It's been a bit of a rollercoaster for me," he said. "I had to drop down into the Conference, but I did well in my first year, then the next year we really kicked on and won the title.
¿The step-up to the Football League is a lot harder than we thought it would be. We started well, then had a bit of a dip but we've picked up again with a couple of draws.
"We came up, and were excited about playing League football, it was a honeymoon period in a way, and we got a few wins.
"Then we started coming up against sides that had dropped down from League One, like Grimsby and Wrexham, who were physically bigger and stronger than we were and we struggled.
"I think in this division a lot of times you've got to grind out results, whereas last year in the Conference we were able to win games even when we were not at our best."
A measure of the task facing United is that, while Shrewsbury comfortably beat them 2-0 at the start of this month, the Bees came away from Shropshire this week with a point.
King said: "We drew 2-2 at Shrewsbury the other night and were a bit unlucky because they scored a late goal to equalise. But we kept to our game plan and kept the ball well. I suppose, at the end of the season, when you look back, you think a point at Gay Meadow isn't such a bad result."
So, not surprisingly, all Simon's friends from the Witney area have been on the phone asking him for a ticket.
"Yes, all my mates have been getting excited about the Man Utd game, so I've had quite a few requests," he added.
"The goal I scored against Plymouth was a volley from the edge of the box, and was my first goal of the season."
Like Ricketts, King looks like a proper footballer because he is comfortable on the ball.
But that has been helped, he says, by his manager's philosophy on playing the ball out from the back.
"I'm still playing left-sided centre half and have been doing well so feel confident," he said.
"I do feel comfortable on the ball. Paul Fairclough wants us to get it off the keeper and play from there rather than have the keeper just kick it upfield. Getting the ball like that and having to use it properly makes you more comfortable.
"I've got a lot of time, I want to establish myself in the League and the good thing here is that there are always a lot of scouts at games because we've got a young team."
King will be fired up to do well against the U's, whose supporters should find Barnet's ground just like their old home.
"I enjoyed my time at Oxford and will go out and enjoy it on Saturday and do my best, which is what I always do anyway," King said.
"There aren't too many players from when I was there, just Chris Hackett and Steve Basham, I think.
"Underhill is a bit like the Manor Ground, a small, tight ground, with a good atmosphere, and of course, there's quite a slope."
United boss Brian Talbot was highly impressed with Simon King when he saw him in Barnet's Carling Cup win against Plymouth.
"Simon King's a good player," Talbot said. "I didn't realise he was at Oxford. He's got a tremendous left foot, is very competitive, and he got an excellent goal.
"It's a shame we let him go ¿ I don't know who did or when he was here ¿ but he looked a good player.
"I came back and said: 'That King's good' and couldn't believe it when my staff said he was here. I said 'was he?' They've got ten other good players, as well so it will be an interesting match. We've just got to reproduce what we did at Rochdale."
From the Oxford Mail