| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Rodney William Marsh | ||
| Date of birth | (1944-10-11)11 October 1944 (age 81) | ||
| Place of birth | Hatfield, England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[1] | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1959–1960 | West Ham United | ||
| 1960–1962 | Fulham | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1962–1966 | Fulham | 63 | (22) |
| 1966–1972 | Queens Park Rangers | 211 | (106) |
| 1972–1976 | Manchester City | 118 | (36) |
| 1975 | Cork Hibernians | 3 | (1) |
| 1976–1979 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 94 | (48) |
| 1976–1977 | →Fulham (loan) | 16 | (5) |
| 1986–1987 | Tampa Bay Rowdies (indoor) | ||
| Total | 505 | (218) | |
| International career | |||
| 1968 | England U23 | 3 | (4) |
| 1971–1973 | England | 9 | (1) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1980 | New York United | ||
| 1980–1983 | Carolina Lightnin' | ||
| 1984–1986 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Rodney William Marsh (born 11 October 1944) is an English formerfootballer and football coach; he later worked as a broadcaster. Aforward, he won nine caps forEngland between 1971 and 1973, scoring one international goal.
Brought up in theEast End of London, he played youth football forWest Ham United before he made his professional debut withFulham in March 1963. He scored 22 goals in 63First Division games before falling out with the management and taking a £15,000 transfer toQueens Park Rangers in March 1966. He helped the club to the1967League Cup and to consecutive promotions through theThird Division andSecond Division. In March 1972 he was sold toManchester City for £200,000. He featured in the1974 League Cup final defeat but his time in Manchester was largely disappointing and he left the UK the following year to play for American clubTampa Bay Rowdies.
He had a successful career with the Rowdies and went on to coach the club from 1984 to 1986 after previously having brief spells coachingNew York United and theCarolina Lightnin'. In the 1990s he began work as a broadcaster onSky Sports, before he was sacked in January 2005. Since that time he has appeared on numerous reality television shows, and helped to run an American-based property development company with his son. In 2015, Marsh started co-hosting a radio show about football onSiriusXM, titledGrumpy Pundits. His co-host is Irish broadcaster Tommy Smyth.
Marsh was born inHatfield,Hertfordshire to Lilian Dredge, ahousewife, and William Marsh, adocker.[2] He grew up in Palatine Road,Stoke Newington, and his parents only spent a few days in Hertfordshire so his mother could avoid going into labour duringthe Blitz.[2] Marsh had a rough upbringing as a child, particularly from his father, and in his autobiography said that this tough upbringing left him emotionally traumatised.[3] His father came from an even more violent family, and was partially crippled at the age of 19 after being attacked by his father with a hammer.[4] An only child, Marsh described his family as "incredibly poor" and until the age of 11 he slept in the corner of his parents' bedroom – the family shared a three-storey house with two other families and the only other room they had was a living room.[5] He attendedArsenal matches atHighbury with his father, and also went along to seereserve team matches.[6] The family's poverty came to an end just as Marsh was beginning his professional football career – his father helped the landlord to fill out his weekly pool coupon, and the landlord had a massive win shortly before his death and left the house to Marsh's father in his will.[7]
Marsh played alongsideRon "Chopper" Harris forHackney Schools, scoring all three goals as Hackney won the schools national championship.[8] His father secured him a trial for theWest Ham United under-16s, and he impressed enough to land himself a place in the academy.[6] However, he was released after ten months byWally St Pier, who let Marsh go to open up a place on the youth team forGeoff Hurst.[9] Soon before his sixteenth birthday, Marsh was spotted by scout Bill Brown, who offered him a place inFulham's youth programme.[10]
Marsh began his career withFirst Division sideFulham, and made his debut againstAston Villa atCraven Cottage on 23 March 1963 afterJohnny Haynes picked up an injury.[11][12] He scored the winning goal on his debut with a volley from aGeorge Cohen cross, prompting managerBedford Jezzard to state that "No boy could have had a better first game".[11][12] Haynes returned to the starting line-up the next week, but Marsh was accommodated with the number eight shirt.[12]
In September 1963, he collided withJohn Sjoberg whilst scoring a winning goal againstLeicester City and was ruled out of action for ten months with a broken jaw and skull.[13] The incident left him with a permanent loss of hearing in his left ear.[11] For weeks he was unable to keep his balance whilst standing, and he was told by one specialist that he would never play football again.[13]
He returned to fitness in the1964–65 season and was utilized at centre forward, and formed an effective partnership with Haynes to secure 17 goals to become theclub's top-scorer.[14] However managerBedford Jezzard left the club and Marsh did not get along with new bossVic Buckingham.[14] He ridiculed Buckingham, who in turn froze Marsh out of the first team.[15]
Marsh movedacross West London to joinQueens Park Rangers, then in theThird Division, after managerAlec Stock paid out a £15,000 fee in March 1966.[16] QPR finished third at the end of the1965–66 campaign, eight points outside promotedMillwall.
Hisfirst full season with Rangers was his most successful, as he formed an effective strike partnership withLes Allen, whilstRoger Morgan andMark Lazarus delivered reliable service from the wings.[17] Marsh scored his first hat-trick for the club in a 4–0 win overMiddlesbrough.[18] He scored 44 goals in 53 games as the club became Third Division champions; his 30 league goals made him the division'stop-scorer. QPR also won theLeague Cup, with Marsh setting Rangers on their way with four goals during a 5–0 victory overColchester United atLayer Road.[18] They needed a replay to overcomeAldershot, before they beatSwansea Town, top-flightLeicester City,Carlisle United andBirmingham City. Their opponents in theWembleyfinal wereWest Bromwich Albion, who had won the cup the previous year. The "Baggies" took a two-goal lead before half-time, but Rangers fought back in the second half and on the 75th minute Marsh scored what he described as "the defining goal of my career" when he made a mazy run past numerous defenders before finding the net with a 25-yard shot that went in off the post.[11][19] Lazarus scored QPR's third goal six minutes later to win the game 3–2.[20] A week after the finalTottenham Hotspur manager witnessed Marsh put in a strong performance againstBournemouth & Boscombe Athletic and he offered to pay QPR £180,000 for Marsh and Morgan, but his offer was rejected by chairmanJim Gregory.[17]
The1967–68 season saw a second successive promotion as QPR reached theFirst Division as runners-up in theSecond Division, ahead ofBlackpool on goal average. Marsh was again top-scorer with 14 goals despite missing the start of the season with a broken foot.[11] He signed a new four-year contract in the summer.[11]
Rangers were unable to compete in the top-flight, and Marsh himself struggled with injury as the club suffered relegation with only 18 points to their name.[16] He broke his foot in pre-season training for the1968–69 campaign and missed the opening months; during this time the club struggled as Stock resigned before the season started, and he was replaced byBill Dodgin in a caretaker capacity.[21] By the time Marsh recovered from his injury managerTommy Docherty's first 28-day spell in charge atLoftus Road had come and gone.[22]
In summer 1969, Marsh was sent off in a friendly againstRangers after punchingKai Johansen in retaliation for a kick Johansen gave Marsh.[23] In the1969–70 season he andBarry Bridges shared 46 goals equally between them, as QPR finished in ninth position. They also reached the quarter-finals of theFA Cup, which was then the club's joint-best achievement in the competition.
Marsh again hit 23 goals in the1970–71 campaign, as Rangers again finished in mid-table obscurity under the stewardship ofGordon Jago. However Marsh lost his captaincy to new signingTerry Venables.[24]
He hit 20 goals in the1971–72 season to finish as the club's top-scorer for the second successive season. Before the season began he signed a new contract on the understanding that he would leave the club if they could not achieve promotion by the end of the season.[24] QPR were still in the hunt for promotion by the time that Marsh was sold – they eventually finished a few points short, however the sum offered byManchester City was too much for the club to refuse.[25]
In March 1972, he was signed forManchester City byMalcolm Allison for athen-club record £200,000.[25] City were four points clear at the top of the table when Marsh was signed, but by the end ofthe season they had slipped to fourth.[16] Many pundits criticised the signing, pointing out that Marsh was a maverick player ill-suited to Allison's well-drilled set-up.[16] He initially replacedWyn Davies up front in a 4-4-2 formation, before playing alongside Davies,Mike Summerbee andFrancis Lee in a 4-2-4 set-up.[26]
Right, no beating about the bush, I have to hold my hands up – I cost Manchester City the 1972 league championship.
— Marsh agreed with the critics in his 2001 autobiography, saying that he regretted the move to Manchester City and he felt he let the supporters down.[27]
Marsh becameCity's top-scorer, scoring 19 goals in1972–73. However the club entered into a decline when Allison resigned in March 1973; over the next yearJohnny Hart,Tony Book andRon Saunders all had spells as City manager. The "Sky Blues" finished 11th in 1972–73 and 14th in1973–74. They did though reachthe final of theLeague Cup in 1974, losing 2–1 toWolverhampton Wanderers atWembley. Marsh was so disappointed by the defeat he threw away his runners-up medal.[28]
Tony Book started his second spell as City's manager in April 1974, and despite being club captain Marsh showed no respect for Book.[29] City finished eighth in1974–75 and1975–76. Marsh was transfer-listed and sent to train with the reserves after chairmanPeter Swales told Book the details of a private conversation the pair had held:[30]
If you think I'm effing useless it's not going to work. Do you want to take it back? (Book)
No chance. In fact, thinking about it more, you're not that good. (Marsh)
In the middle of 1975 Marsh played a handful of matches forCork Hibernians for a fee of £600 a game.[31] He later was flown toLos Angeles as a guest ofElton John, who was then chairman of theLos Angeles Aztecs in theNASL, but before he agreed to join the club he was approached in January 1976 by theTampa Bay Rowdies.[32] He was sold to the Rowdies in April 1976 for a £40,000 fee.[11] He made two oft-quoted remarks during his transfer, stating that "football in England had become a grey game, played on grey days by grey people" and upon arriving in America he announced that "Pelé is known as the black Rodney Marsh" after the Rowdies owner said that "Rodney Marsh is known as the white Pelé".[33]
He played from 1976 to 1979 in the States, leading the Rowdies to theSoccer Bowl in his final two seasons. Both times they would come up short. Marsh was a NASL All-Star every year, making the first-team in 1976 and 1978, the second team in 1977 and as an Honorable Mention in his final season. Despite this success he suffered from depression and was drinking heavily for much of his time there.[34] Head coachEddie Firmani resigned from the club in 1977 after becoming frustrated with Marsh's ill-discipline; he was replaced byJohn Boyle.[35] Marsh stopped his drinking after his doctor told him that alcohol was destroying his liver and seriously shortening his life expectancy.[36] Marsh left the club after being forced out in 1979.[37] He went off in another tantrum after being substituted with ten minutes to go of his competitive career by head coachGordon Jago.[38] While serving as Rowdies manager for the 1986–87AISA season, the long-retired Marsh was pressed into service once again as a player, due to a rash of injuries on the squad.[39][40]
He spent the winter of the1976–77 season on loan atFulham, now in theSecond Division, after learning thatGeorge Best would also be playing atCraven Cottage.[41] The "Cottagers" were then a fashionable club where celebrities would often be in attendance and players like Marsh and Best would spend much of their free time in London nightclubs; managerAlec Stock ensured that the partying off the pitch did not hamper progress on the pitch.[42] Stock resigned and new bossBobby Campbell took the club as high as fourth place before a run of nine defeats in 12 games saw Fulham slide down the table.[43] The bleak wintery conditions eventually took their toll on Best and Marsh, who both returned to the US early in 1976.[44]
Marsh made hisEngland debut in a 1–1 draw withSwitzerland atWembley in November 1971, coming on as a substitute forFrancis Lee.[25] He won a total of ninecaps, scoring one goal, which came in a 3–0 victory overWales.
It has been reported that the England managerAlf Ramsey told him "I'll be watching you for the first 45 minutes and if you don't work harder I'll pull you off at half time," to which Marsh replied: "Crikey, Alf, at QPR all we get is an orange and a cup of tea."[45]
Often cited as a player who did not make the most of his talents, Marsh was a strongstriker with great technical ability.[16] An excellentdribbler of the ball,[11] he was capable of producing moments of rare skill and extravagant attempts on goal, which earned him a reputation as a show-boater.[16] His ability and the rarity which he played to his full potential earned him comparisons toGeorge Best.[45] He would regularly retaliate against players who used foul play to stop his runs, and picked up numerous fines from the FA for fighting back against his aggressors.[11]
I would feel more elation if we lost 4–3 in a match which really touched the heights than us sneaking through 1–0 in one of those grey matches. If we cannot remind people what a great game it is then we will have missed a tremendous opportunity."
— Marsh speaking before the1974 Football League Cup Final.[11]
He retired after 1979, and coachedNew York United in theASL.[46] He resigned three months into his contract when the general manager insisted that he sign fiveUruguayan refugees to the club against his wishes.[47] In 1981, he was appointed head coach and CEO of the newly createdCarolina Lightnin', and quickly assembled a team around star midfielderDon Tobin.[48] He coached the team to the Freedom Conference title in1981, and they went on to beat his former club New York United 2–1 in the championship final.[49] In1982 they lost at the semi-final stage to theOklahoma City Slickers.[50] He then hiredBobby Moore as a coach.[51] At the end of a disappointing1983 campaign the league folded and Marsh returned to theTampa Bay Rowdies as head coach in October 1983.[52] There he gaveRoy Wegerle his debut as a professional player.[53] After the1984 season theNorth American Soccer League also disbanded.[52] The club remained however, and later joined theNational Professional Soccer League. Marsh relinquished his coaching duties and remained on as CEO, and appointedMark Lawrenson and laterMalcolm Allison,Ricky Hill,David Hay andKen Fogarty as head coaches.[54]
After ending his coaching career, Marsh undertook a three-year roadshow tour withGeorge Best.[55] He began his career in the media with Best, presenting football related videos, before he became a regular feature on television.[56] In 1994, he spent a brief period as CEO ofQueens Park Rangers.[57]
Marsh worked as a pundit forSky Sports for many years. Whilst there he was involved in long-running banter withBradford City and its supporters in the1999–2000 season, in which he flippantly dismissed their chances of survival in thePremier League.[58] He offered to shave all of his hair off if the club stayed up, and honoured his bet and had his hair removed in the centre circle ofValley Parade.[58]
He appeared onSoccer Saturday for a total of 11 years until he was sacked in January 2005.[59] He was fired after he joked about the2004 Asian tsunami during a live broadcast ofYou're On Sky Sports.[60] He had said: "David Beckham has turned down a move toNewcastle United because of trouble with the 'Toon Army in Asia'."[59] Whilst Marsh subsequently apologised on air, this was not enough to save his job.[61] Subsequently, Marsh joinedTalksport as a presenter, co-hosting the daily Drivetime show with Paul Breen-Turner.[62] In 2006, Talksport received a number of complaints and the programme director issued an apology after Marsh made a newsreader laugh uncontrollably whilst she was reporting the death of a British soldier inAfghanistan.[63] Marsh left the station in October 2006.[64]
Since then Marsh attempted to rebuild his career with appearances on reality television. He appeared in the2007 series ofITV'sI'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! where he was the fifth person to be voted off the show; CelebrityCome Dine with Me on Channel 4 in January 2009, in which he came in joint second place tied withAbi Titmuss; thefirst series of CelebrityCoach Trip on Channel 4 in November 2010, where he was partnered withCheryl Baker; other notable appearances includeSing If You Can andCash in the Attic. He is currently cohost of Grumpy Pundits on Sirius Radio.
He married Jean Barry in March 1967.[1] The pair met a few years earlier at ajazz club inManor Park.[14]
He and his son Jonathan founded the Marsh Group, a property development company inTampa,Florida, in 1996.[65] After retiring as a player Marsh continued to support QPR and Manchester City. Today he is now a co-host for a radio show calledGrumpy Pundits onSirius XM.
Queens Park Rangers
Manchester City
Tampa Bay Rowdies
Carolina Lightnin'
England
Individual
Specific
General
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
