Saddlers mates are reunited as Marsh gets City kitted out
THE WALSALL VET WILL FEEL RIGHT AT HOME AT SKY BLUES
WALSALL legend Chris Marsh has swapped driving a lorry for a living to become Coventry City’s new kit man.
The 48-year-old’s first game in charge of the Sky Blues strip was at the Banks’s Stadium in the FA Cup just a few weeks ago, and now he’s preparing to go back to the club he loves again this weekend when the two sides meet in the league.
Marsh, who played 479 games and scored 30 goals for the Saddlers over a 13 year spell between 1988 and 2001, caused a bit of stir when he turned up with the Coventry City crest on his shirt, including when he bumped into current boss and former team-mate Dean Keates.
Marsh and Keates both played in the same side along with City manager Mark Robins and Sky Blues No.2 Adi Viveash.
“Dean was my boot boy actually. He was bad at that as well – a dreadful boot boy,” joked the former winger turned right-back.
“My first game in the job was back at Walsall.
“I turned up at the Banks’s and Dean saw me wearing the badge and he said, ‘What on earth are you doing?’
“I told him that Robbo – I call him gaffer now – had given me an opportunity and he was pleased for me.”
Marsh couldn’t be happier to be back in the game, revealing the offer came out of the blue.
“I was on holiday and I got a call from Mark Robins and he asked me if I could come and help,” said the bubbly character, who also played for Northampton Town and Wycombe Wanderers.
“He said there was a vacancy and asked if I fancied getting back into football.
“Obviously being a kit man you are not on the training ground but you still see the lads every day and it’s great getting back into that environment which I enjoyed all those years ago.
“I had 18/19 years as a professional so it’s great to be back in the game and the lads are fantastic.
“I know the manager and Adi Viveash from our time at Walsall. I played with both and Adi, especially, is a very good friend and Mark is a great man so I am really grateful of the opportunity and I’m loving every moment of it.” He added: “I only live down the road, quite literally from the training ground, at Bubbenhall. “Although I am from the Black Country I have been settled in Warwickshire for the last 15 years and I love the county. “And it just so happened that I ended up a mile and a half away from the training ground, which is brilliant. It couldn’t be better and obviously I am on tap now to open up and lock up, so maybe there’s a caretaker role in there as well! “I am chuffed to bits, to be honest, because I have always wanted to get back into football.
“I made almost 500 appearances for Walsall but no-one ever gave me an opportunity so I am so grateful for being given this chance.”
Up until recently Marsh was driving lorries for a living after a being involved in various catering businesses with varying degrees of success.
“Since I retired from playing I invested in a sandwich shop in the Black Country that did really well and then I invested in a restaurant which went belly up,” he said.
“I coached abroad in Australia and America for a while and then came back and became a HGV driver, which is what I have been doing for the last five or six years, driving for a living.
“But being back in football, health-wise, this is just brilliant for me. There’s no more sleeping in my cab and although I am working weekends now it’s great being involved with the first team on a matchday.
“I can’t speak highly enough about the lads who have been absolutely fantastic, all making me feel welcome.
“Doyler is a great player who keeps the team ticking and he has been brilliant with me.”
So having a foot in both camps, where do his loyalties lie as City attempt to made amends for their 3-2 defeat Cup exit this weekend when they return to take face the Saddlers in the league?
“It’s a difficult one for me because obviously I have been back to Walsall loads of times and I love watching them,” he said.
“You don’t play nearly 500 games for a club and not feel anything for them.
Being back in football is brilliant. I can’t speak highly enough about the lads who have been making me feel really welcome. Chris Marsh
“But my loyalties now have to be with Coventry City. It’s my livelihood and my living.
“Don’t get me wrong, I want to see both do well but part of me doesn’t want them to be in the same division.
“I’ll always cheer on Walsall but now I have to turn my attentions to Coventry and the people I work with every day.
“My heart has always been with Walsall but I have to look at the bigger picture. Coventry have given me an opportunity and Walsall never have, so I have to look at that.”
Asked how he thinks the game will go this weekend, he said: “I think it will be tight because Walsall are decent at home.
“They are conceding at the moment and I think over the last 10-12 games they have conceded two or more goals most games.
“But all that goes out the window and it’s about how you perform on the day.
“Coventry have been decent on the road and with all their support and following that makes one hell of a difference.”
Marsh admits he already had a soft spot for the Sky Blues even before joining the payroll.
“I haven’t been surprised by the quality in the Coventry side because I have been coming to watch them at the Ricoh for the last two years through Adi Viveash,” he said.
“His son goes to the games and he gets on well with my son so I’ve watched them and know all about the players. The one thing that Coventry have got over Walsall is the depth of squad.
“Walsall’s first 11 are decent but if they get a few injuries they’re in trouble. Here they have got top quality players to come in and quality running right through to Chaplin and Jonno up front.
“It will be interesting on Saturday but I think Coventry might have too much for them.”
As for the Amadou Bakayoko conundrum, Marsh is confident the former Saddlers’ striker who Robins signed for £300,000 in the summer will come good at the Ricoh Arena.
“I watched the home game against Peterborough and I told him, ‘go on son,’ just before he went on and set up Conor for the equaliser,” he said.
“He’s a cracking lad and that’s what it’s all about, getting on, trying to do well and hoping that he’s done enough to warrant being on the bench at least in the next game and working towards getting a starting place. “Baka’s got quality. “He’s still got a lot to learn but he’s still young and I think he’s going to be a great player.
“If he keeps going on and causing trouble then he’s going to be knocking on the door.”