Rodney William Marsh (born 11 October 1944) is an English former footballer and football coach; he later worked as a broadcaster. A forward, he won nine caps for England between 1971 and 1973, scoring one international goal.
Brought up in North London, he played youth football for West Ham United before he made his professional debut with Fulham in March 1963. He scored 22 goals in 63 First Division games before falling out with the management and taking a £15,000 transfer to Queens Park Rangers in March 1966. He helped QPR win the 1967 League Cup and to consecutive promotions through the Third Division and Second Division. In March 1972 he was sold to Manchester City for £200,000. He featured in the 1974 League Cup final defeat but his time in Manchester was largely disappointing and he left the UK the following year to play for American club Tampa Bay Rowdies.
Marsh had a successful career with the Rowdies and went on to coach the club from 1984 to 1986 after previously having brief spells coaching New York United and the Carolina Lightnin'. In the 1990s he began work as a broadcaster on Sky 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 on SiriusXM, titled Grumpy Pundits. His co-host is Irish broadcaster Tommy Smyth.
Marsh was born in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, to Lilian Dredge, a housewife, and William Marsh, a docker. His parents only spent a few days in Hertfordshire so his mother could avoid going into labour during the Blitz. Marsh grew up in Palatine Road, Stoke Newington, North London, and he had a rough upbringing as a child, particularly from his father, and in his autobiography said that this tough upbringing left him emotionally traumatised. 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. 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. He attended Arsenal matches at Highbury with his father, and also went along to see reserve team matches. The family's poverty came to an end just as Marsh was beginning his professional football career – his father used to help 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.
Marsh played alongside Ron "Chopper" Harris for Hackney Schools, scoring all three goals as Hackney won the schools national championship. His father secured him a trial for the West Ham United under-16s, and he impressed enough to land himself a place in the academy. However, he was released after 10 months by Wally St Pier, who let Marsh go to open up a place on the youth team for Geoff Hurst. Soon before his 16th birthday, Marsh was spotted by scout Bill Brown, who offered him a place in Fulham's youth programme.
Marsh began his career with First Division side Fulham, and made his debut against Aston Villa at Craven Cottage on 23 March 1963 after Johnny Haynes picked up an injury. He scored the winning goal on his debut with a volley from a George Cohen cross, prompting manager Bedford Jezzard to state that "No boy could have had a better first game". Haynes returned to the starting line-up the next week, but Marsh was accommodated with the number eight shirt.
In September 1963, he collided with John Sjoberg whilst scoring a winning goal against Leicester City and was ruled out of action for ten months with a broken jaw and skull. The incident left him with a permanent loss of hearing in his left ear. 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.
He returned to fitness in the 1964–65 season and was utilized at centre forward, and formed an effective partnership with Haynes to secure 17 goals to become the club's top-scorer. However manager Bedford Jezzard left the club and Marsh did not get along with new boss Vic Buckingham. He ridiculed Buckingham, who in turn froze Marsh out of the first team.
Marsh moved across West London to join Queens Park Rangers, then in the Third Division, after manager Alec Stock paid out a £15,000 fee in March 1966. QPR finished third at the end of the 1965–66 campaign, eight points outside promoted Millwall.
His first full season with Rangers was his most successful, as he formed an effective strike partnership with Les Allen, whilst Roger Morgan and Mark Lazarus delivered reliable service from the wings. Marsh scored his first hat-trick for the club in a 4–0 win over Middlesbrough. He scored 44 goals in 53 games as the club became Third Division champions; his 30 league goals made him the division's top-scorer. QPR also won the League Cup, with Marsh setting Rangers on their way with four goals during a 5–0 victory over Colchester United at Layer Road. They needed a replay to overcome Aldershot, before they beat Swansea Town, top-flight Leicester City, Carlisle United and Birmingham City. Their opponents in the Wembley final were West 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. Lazarus scored QPR's third goal six minutes later to win the game 3–2. A week after the final Tottenham Hotspur manager witnessed Marsh put in a strong performance against Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic and he offered to pay QPR £180,000 for Marsh and Morgan, but his offer was rejected by chairman Jim Gregory.
The 1967–68 season saw a second successive promotion as QPR reached the First Division as runners-up in the Second Division, ahead of Blackpool on goal average. Marsh was again top-scorer with 14 goals despite missing the start of the season with a broken foot. He signed a new four-year contract in the summer.
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. He broke his foot in pre-season training for the 1968–69 campaign and missed the opening months; during this time the club struggled as Stock resigned before the season started, and he was replaced by Bill Dodgin in a caretaker capacity. By the time Marsh recovered from his injury manager Tommy Docherty's first 28-day spell in charge at Loftus Road had come and gone.
In summer 1969, Marsh was sent off in a friendly against Rangers after punching Kai Johansen in retaliation for a kick Johansen gave Marsh. In the 1969–70 season he and Barry Bridges shared 46 goals equally between them, as QPR finished in ninth position. They also reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, which was then the club's joint-best achievement in the competition.
Marsh again hit 23 goals in the 1970–71 campaign, as Rangers again finished in mid-table obscurity under the stewardship of Gordon Jago. However Marsh lost his captaincy to new signing Terry Venables.
He hit 20 goals in the 1971–72 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. 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 by Manchester City was too much for the club to refuse.
In March 1972, he was signed for Manchester City by Malcolm Allison for a then-club record £200,000. City were four points clear at the top of the table when Marsh was signed, but by the end of the season they had slipped to fourth. Many pundits criticised the signing, pointing out that Marsh was a maverick player ill-suited to Allison's well-drilled set-up. He initially replaced Wyn Davies up front in a 4-4-2 formation, before playing alongside Davies, Mike Summerbee and Francis Lee in a 4-2-4 set-up. They won just three of their final eight games. Marsh wrote in his autobiography Priceless: My Autobiography, “Right, no beating about the bush. I have to hold my hands up – I cost Manchester City the 1972 league championship."