Andy Marshall on Millwall return, 2004 FA Cup final memories and reflecting on time as coach at Charlton and Birmingham City

“I walked into the training ground and the place was falling apart, there was rain coming through holes. It was an absolute shambles of a training ground.”

Andy Marshall can still vividly remember his first impressions of life at Millwall. Little was he to know that his move to the South London club would lead to some of his most memorable moments.

Now 47, Marshall is back with the Lions as their new goalkeeping coach. And so much has changed, not least a spruced up Calmont Road training base.

He initially signed on loan from Ipswich Town in January 2004, five months later he was facing Manchester United in the FA Cup final at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.

While the Lions lost 3-0, Cristiano Ronaldo opening the scoring on the stroke of half-time before a brace by Ruud van Nistelrooy, they still qualified for the UEFA Cup.

Marshall kept a clean sheet in the 1-0 win over Sunderland in the semi-final at Old Trafford. And he was one of the first on the scene to grab the bare-chested Tim Cahill, who had whipped off his shirt after a 26th-minute goal which proved to be the clincher.

Back but to those first impressions.

Dennis Wise had been appointed player-boss, assisted by Ray Wilkins, after Marl McGhee’s departure in October.

Marshall said: “I turned up on a dull, wet day and you think ‘what the hell am I doing here?’ But you start to then get a feel for the place. It’s hard to explain. It was just the togetherness of the team – and Dennis and Ray.

“Were they the most talented group of players? Nowhere near. But the level of togetherness and commitment was something I hadn’t seen before,

and I’d been in the game for a few years by that point.”

Millwall went into the FA Cup final as serious underdogs.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s side contained Gary Neville, Roy Keane, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs – not to mention the goalscorers on the day.

Lions hardman Kevin Muscat was ruled out with knee ligament damage in early April. Keeper Tony Warner was also sidelined with striker Danny

Dichio claiming he felt “physically sick” when referee Brian Curson refused to rescind his red card at Forest, killing his dreams of being involved.
On top of that, Wise and Paul Ifill were both struggling.

“Dennis was playing but hadn’t trained for three weeks – the same with Ifes,” recalled Marshall.

“Even if we were at full strength, United were a far technically better side than us.

“We gave what we could and you couldn’t ask any more than that. If we could’ve got to half-time then who knows what could have happened in the second half? Unfortunately just before half-time we conceded.

“The whole United team was star-studded. It was still a fantastic experience.

“Theo [Paphitis, then chairman] said win or lose we’re going to have a party. The club had never achieved what it achieved before. We still had a really pleasant evening after the game.”

Marshall played 66 first-team matches for Millwall before he joined Coventry on a free transfer in June 2006.

Paphitis had stepped down a year earlier with Wise also walking away claiming he could not work with new chairman Jeff Burnige.

Burnige lasted just two months in the role, only a touch more than Steve Claridge’s 36-day spell as boss.

Two other managers followed in that campaign, Colin Lee and David Tuttle, as Millwall finished 23rd and lost their Championship status.

“Theo wanted out, there was a change of board and ownership,” said Marshall. “It wasn’t being run right. I think the fans became aware of this. Unfortunately the club was going in a downward spiral and there were a lot of things that the players didn’t agree with that were going on.

“I wanted to play at the highest level and when the club got relegated I had the chance to stay in the Championship, which is what I went on and did.”

There was to be one final Millwall chapter as a player, but it was a brief one.

Marshall came back in August 2013 on a short-term contract, with first choice David Forde ruled out for a month with a knee injury, but retired the following January.

“I’d had a lot of problems with my back and I’d previously had a prolapsed disc which was operated on,” said Marshall. “It was just the accumulation of injuries that caught up with me.

“I was 39 years old and crawling out of bed on my hands and knees.

“My body was in bits and I wasn’t even getting paid.

“I was coming into training because I wanted to carry on my career. One day I just thought: ‘What am I doing with myself?’ That’s when I moved on.

“The FA Cup run was one of the highlights of my career, along with my debut [for Norwich] when I came on [following an injury to Bryan Gunn]. Then I made my home debut and got man of the match.

“I’ve won Player of the Season at Coventry and Norwich. I’ve had a half-decent career. I know we’re doing this interview, but I very rarely talk about my career. I just loved and enjoy what I did – and I can still do it now.”

Marshall has been goalkeeping coach at Aston Villa, Charlton Athletic and Birmingham City.

When Lee Bowyer quit the Addicks to take charge at Birmingham, Marshall made the same move shortly afterwards.

Those two clubs have hit the headlines for plenty of the wrong reasons in recent years, with messy and, at times, farcical ownership battles playing out.

Marshall left the Blues when Bowyer’s 16-month managerial reign was ended at the start of this month. It coincided with Lee Turner stepping down from his post at Millwall.

“An agent contacted me and said that Lee Turner was looking to take a bit of time out and there could be an opportunity to come in at Millwall,” said Marshall. “It was a ‘yes, I’m interested’ and within 24 hours I had spoken to the manager and spoken to the coaching staff. I met the manager a couple of days later and it just went from there.

“It suited all parties. Lee wanted to get out for a little while, he needed a break from the game, and the manager, myself and the coaching staff all got on really well. It just all fitted perfectly.”

Perfect is not a description that applies to Birmingham City with their Chinese owners looking to sell and parts of their ground shut due to urgent repair work being shelved while takeover talks continue.

“There are some good staff and really good people at the football club,” said Marshall. “The club is going through, let’s be diplomatic, a transition. I just don’t know when that transition is going to end.

“I look at my own time there on a personal level – I was brought in to develop the goalies and get performances on the field.

“I brought in a goalkeeper in Matija Sarkic, after Neil Etheridge contracted Covid, and in 23 games he kept 10 clean sheets and within that time got our Player of the Season. I’d like to think I had a positive impact on the team and helped develop the goalkeepers in the football club. I just didn’t feel as a coaching staff we were ever given the support that was deserved and promised.

“I’ve come to Millwall and seen a totally different level to how the club is being run, in comparison to previous clubs I have been at. It’s a pleasure to be here and a pleasure to be part of it.”

Marshall played more than 400 matches at club level and was also capped by England at U21 and U18 level. He wants to impart his wisdom to the keepers he works with and try to help them avoid the pitfalls.

“It’s being there to try and take all the pressure away from these guys,” he said. “Having played the game at the levels I’ve played at, I’m lucky to understand the added pressures that come with the game.

“The bigger thing in society, which people always forget, is that footballers are human beings. They have the same stuff going on that the normal person on the street will have going on – but they have to hide it and be able to get on with their performances and working as an elite athlete.

“So it’s about understanding that and understanding these lads can come to me. There’s not a lot that I’ve not experienced at my age – both domestically, in my personal life, and in my football life.

“They are able to come to me and maybe I can help them not to make the same mistakes and maybe avoid them having similar problems they could be coming up against.

“Young lads are fortunate to have very good contracts on good money – best of luck to them. But you strip it all away and they are just normal human beings.”

Marshall will work with established first-teamers like Bart Bialkowski and George Long as well as youngsters still learning the trade.

“I’ve come into a goalkeeping department where the standard is very, very good,” he said.

“That’s credit to my predecessor and to the players who are working at the football club. I’ve been seriously impressed by them.

“What I’ll try to do is just bring all the age group levels together. The problem we’ve got at Calmont Road is that it isn’t a big site. Unfortunately a lot of the U18s and year groups below don’t get to train with the first team or U23s.

“I’m trying to find opportunities where we can bring them together. Already some of the young goalkeepers have started training with the senior ones, because it is key they see the pathway and understand the level they have to get to – to play in the Championship and above. The only way they can do that is training with the senior keepers.

“This was something I always wanted to do. Even when I was still playing I used to stay in the evenings and coach the young goalkeepers. Even a few years ago at a club like Villa, at the highest level, they never had goalkeeping coaches in the evenings a few years ago.

“I saw it as an opportunity to help develop me and help develop the football club.

“As a coach I was working with Brad Guzan, Shay Given and Jed Steer and then young keepers in Sarkic and some others, most went on to have careers in the lower leagues.”