Marshall, Scott

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Personal

Fullname: Scott Roderick Marshall
aka: Scott Marshall
Born: 1 May 1973
Birthplace: Edinburgh, Scotland
Signed: 19 March 1999 (loan)
Left: 31 May 1999
Position: Full-back
Debut: Celtic 0-3 Rangers, League, 2 May 1999
Internationals: none

Biog

The son of ex-Celtic goalkeeper Gordon Marshall Snr and also brother of ex-Celtic player Gordon Marshall, former Arsenal player Scott Marshall was a loan signing from Southampton during the 1998-1999 season under Jo Venglos as Celtic manager.

A centre half, Marshall showed early promise at Arsenal and was a Scotland Under 21 international tipped for a very bright future. However he never came close to fulfilling that early potential and he eventually departed Highbury on a free transfer in the summer of 1998 for Southampton.

His career at the Saints was a nightmare and Marshall began to look a very limited defender who was out of his depth at the highest level. His loan move to Celtic in March 1999 was greeted with a collective groan from the Celtic support who saw Marshall as a player simply not good enough for the Hoops, but in fairness the club needed to be prudent and Marshall was only there for the short-haul.

So it proved. Marshall’s only start for the Bhoys was in the disastrous 3-0 defeat to Rangers on 2 May 1999 which saw the Ibrox club claim the league championship to regain the title at Celtic Park for the first time in 100 years. Celtic’s lengthy injury list saw Marshall form a makeshift back three with Enrico Annoni and a half-fit Alan Stubbs, in front of backup keeper Kerr, as referee Hugh Dallas wrote his name into the annals of Rangers lore. Marshall was regarded to look overawed & overwhelmed, and no surprise when your first game is such a major one with a lot of baggage. Many in frustration described him as hapless but so were plenty others that day.

It wasn’t a fair debut game to try to prove himself in, but the management were forced into playing him due to the circumstances. Rangers took advantage in a contentious match which has since been dubbed ‘The Shame Game‘.

He got to also play a week later on 8th May 1999 in a 2-1 away victory for Celtic v Dunfermline, coming on as a sub after 63mins for Alan Stubbs.

He wasn’t given any further opportunities to prove himself but Celtic had some major issues to resolve, and manager Jo Venglos was to leave at the end of the season whilst also club chairman Fergus McCann ended his time at Celtic as well as he had planned. It was to be all change next season at Celtic, and Scott Marshall was to end his time before the new regime was even to be in place.

It wasn’t a good season for Marshall. He only got to play four games in total, two at Celtic and two at Southampton, with three being defeats but can hardly be deemed the culprit for those losses. At least the Dunfermline game was a respite.

He returned back to his parent club, and was subsequently released by Southampton and joined Brentford in October 1999 for a fee of £250,000. He was injury prone at Brentford and he missed most of the 2001/02 season. After battling his way back to fitness, he at last gained regular first team football making a total of 94 appearances for the Bees, scoring 7 goals.

In November 2003, he joined Wycombe Wanderers.

On 27 August 2004 he announced his retirement from the professional game. After retiring, he took up a youth coach role at Brentford in 2007. He later moved onto Aston Villa & Reading, and was briefly an interim manager for the first team at both clubs.

Despite the unsuccessful spell and very brief time at Celtic, we wished him the best. There are few more families who have had as many to have played in the professional ranks at Celtic as the Marshalls.

Playing Career

Honours with Celtic

none

Pictures

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Notes

• Some databases wrongly claim that Scott Marshall played only once or three times for Celtic. He actually played in two matches in total, as match reports & research by this site confirm.