John Henry Marsh (born 31 May 1948) is an English former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played for

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

. He played as a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. Marsh began his career with his local club

making his debut in 1967. He soon became a member of

Tony Waddington Anthony Waddington (9 November 1924 – 21 January 1994) was an English football manager at both Crewe Alexandra and Stoke City. Waddington had a seven-year playing career with Crewe Alexandra before becoming a coach at Stoke City. He progre ...

's first team in the 1970s as Stoke enjoyed their most successful period in their history. March played in the 1972 Football League Cup Final as Stoke beat

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

2–1 to claim their first major honour. He also played for the club the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

. In total Marsh made 440 appearances for Stoke in 12 seasons he spent at the

Victoria Ground The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League. History ...

Career

Marsh was born in

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

and was a star performer in the youth teams at

. A boyhood Stoke fan Marsh realised his dream making his debut against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

on the opening day of the 1967–68. He made the right back position his own the following season making 30 appearances. Marsh was a combative right-back who had good control and a fair turn of speed for a small chunky player. He specialised in hard low crosses into the box which allowed forwards to flick on to others or volley towards goal.

Jimmy Greenhoff James Greenhoff (born 19 June 1946) is an English former association football, footballer. He was a skilful Forward (association football), forward and although capped five times at England national under-23 football team, under-23 level, once a ...

recalls: "Jackie was so skilful, I am sure if he had played for Manchester United he would have played for England. He was a defender who played like a midfielder." He played 47 times in 1970–71 as Stoke reached the semi-final of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

losing out to Arsenal. He then played in 69 matches during the hectic 1971–72 season which saw Stoke again lose to Arsenal at the semi-final stage but they did beat

2–1 in the 1972 League Cup final earning the "Potters" their first major trophy. He remained a solid and consistent performer for Stoke at right-back under

throughout the 1970s. In January 1976 a severe storm in Stoke-on-Trent saw the

badly damaged and as a result the club had to sell their players to fund the repair costs. Marsh resisted any move away but a threadbare squad suffered relegation 1976–77. They gained a quick return to the top tier in 1978–79. Marsh was given a free transfer in the summer of 1979 and he went on to play for

Los Angeles Aztecs The Los Angeles Aztecs was an American professional soccer team based in Los Angeles, California that existed from 1974 to 1981. The Aztecs competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1974 to 1981 as well as the 1975 NASL Indoor tour ...

and joined

Terry Conroy Gerard Anthony Francis Conroy (born 2 October 1946) is an Irish former professional footballer. A winger and forward, he scored 74 goals in 372 league and cup appearances in a 14-year career in the English Football League from 1967 to 1981. ...

in Hong Kong with

Bulova SA Bulova was a Hong Kong football club which were dissolved after the 1984–85 season. In 1977, Bulova entered Hong Kong Third Division League and proposed a three-year plan to get promotion to First Division. In 1979–80 season, Bulova appeare ...

. He returned to England to play for non-league

Northwich Victoria {{Infobox UK place , static_image_name = Northwich - Town Bridge.jpg , static_image_caption = Town Bridge, the River Weaver and the spire of Holy Trinity Church , official_name = Northwich , country ...

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

; Stoke City *

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

third-place promotion: 1978–79

References

External links

Jackie Marsh
at StokeCityFC.com *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marsh, Jackie 1948 births Living people Footballers from Stoke-on-Trent English footballers Association football fullbacks Stoke City F.C. players English Football League players Los Angeles Aztecs players Northwich Victoria F.C. players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States English expatriate footballers