John Marshall

John Marshall is a former player, coach and scout of Fulham. He began training with the club as a thirteen year-old in 1977 and stayed at the club for his entire playing career, retiring in 1998 having made nearly 500 first team appearances. He could play in a variety of positions and played in nearly every position on the pitch during his time with Fulham. He is currently fourth in the list of most appearances made by a player in the history of the club.

Before Fulham
Born in Balham in 1964, John and his family lived in Tooting and his ability as a footballer showed at a very early age, when at only six years-old he was playing regularly in an Under-10 side. His family moved to Langley Vale on the edge of Epsom Downs at around ten years-old, and John played Sunday football for Fetcham Park United, near Leatherhead, in the West Surrey Boys League. It was here that he met Greg Campbell, son of then-Fulham manager Bobby Campbell, which in time led him to join Fulham.

Fulham (1977-2005)
John began training with Fulham as a 13 year-old in 1977, and made his South East Counties League debut for the youth team in January 1980, still aged just 15. He signed as an 'apprentice' a few months later in June 1980.

He signed his first professional contract on 20 August 1982, but had to wait until the beginning of the 1983-84 season to make his first team debut as he started in the second League match of the season, a 2-0 loss at home to Portsmouth. He started his Fulham career as a central defender, appeared as a striker in an emergency, then played as a right-sided midfielder. When injury slowed his pace, John moved to right back.

The highlights of his Fulham career were cup ties against First Division opposition and when the club reached the Third Division play-offs in 1988-89, only to lose to Bristol Rovers. This was arguably his best season at Craven Cottage and he scored 7 goals including a superb one at Ashton Gate in which he made a run from his own half before beating the goalkeeper.

John had a joint testimonial with Peter Scott in May 1990 at home against Chelsea which finished 2-1 to the visitors. At one stage in the mid 90's in looked as though he may beat Johnny Haynes' appearance record, but he broke his leg in two places against Gillingham in April 1995 which effectively ended his playing time in the first team.

He officially retired from playing in the summer of 1998 after spending the last two years with the reserves, and became a coach for the first team in his last year of playing. He stayed in this role until the end of the 1998-99 season, when he became Chief Scout for the club, a position he held for six seasons until he left Fulham after 29 years' service.

After Fulham
John joined the FA as a senior scout for the England national team in August 2005, before a brief stint working with Leicester City as Head of Recruitment the following year, returning to his role with the FA only months later.

He stayed with the national team until July 2014, when he moved to Nottingham Forest as their Head of Recruitment, spending one season. He then stayed in the same role but switched to join Wolverhampton Wanderers in August 2015.