Maloney faces long-time pal Marshall
SPEND any length of time around the Scotland squad throughout the Gordon Strachan era and you would notice David Marshall and Shaun Maloney were rarely seen apart. Close pals and team-mates since their days as Celtic teenagers, the friendship has lasted throughout their playing careers and a multitude of moves.
They roomed together around the world, stood side by side singing the national anthem on Scotland travels for years and spent a season reunited on the domestic beat at Hull City.
Throw in obvious national sensitivities, then, and it could be regarded quite a betrayal for Maloney to scheme the goalkeeper’s downfall while armed with Belgium’s outrageous talent.
The ex-Scotland midfielder is coaching quality like Romelu Lukaku, Michy Batshuayi and Divock Origi, all of whom have Marshall in their sights tomorrow evening at Hampden.
The havoc wreaked by the Hazards Eden and Thorgan, outstanding in Brussels in June as Roberto Martinez’s stars won 3-0 but mercifully absent now, was difficult enough to deal with.
However, it turns out the Scotland No1 is the forgiving type. He and Belgium’s assistant coach have, indeed, been speaking all summer.
They played some golf together, Maloney visited in support when Marshall debuted for his new club last month and the Wigan Athletic goalkeeper was fully expecting to chat during international week.
In explaining how Marshall can still rely on Maloney for counsel and guidance whenever required, he gives an insight into the studious approach of his friend.
‘If he picked up the phone from me, he would probably have watched my game anyway,’ reveals Marshall, one of few players to emerge with any credit from Friday night’s dispiriting 2-1 defeat to Russia.
‘Just because he keeps on top of stuff like that.
‘His advice has been helpful. I guess it’s difficult because I am a goalkeeper and Shaun played a different position. But he is always kind of level-headed and that can keep you on the straight and narrow.’
So Marshall doesn’t find it strange to imagine, like many Scottish fans would, one of their own in Maloney calling the shots in training with Lukaku, Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne.
The 35-year-old’s meteoric rise in coaching has taken him to a highbrow level since he quit playing in the summer of 2017 and took to managing at Celtic’s academy.
A year later, his former Wigan manager Martinez, with whom he won the 2013 FA Cup, brought him on to the Belgian part-time staff following their third-placed 2018 World Cup finish.
Within a month, Maloney was handed increased duties and the arrangement made permanent. That should be a source of great pride, according to Marshall.
‘He’s done really well for himself, it’s incredible,’ said the ex-Cardiff keeper. ‘To get to the level he’s at already is hard.
‘But I am not really surprised because he was always really knowledgeable about the game and always wanted to coach. So he was always going to be a coach.
‘At the end of his career, he knew that was what he wanted to do and got his qualifications in.
‘I ended up at Hull with him, which was his last club as a player, and he was always close with the manager there in terms of looking at sessions.
‘I used to drive him to the training ground. And, as we worked, I used to see him talking to Marco Silva on the pitch.
‘It was only a few months with Marco, who came in in January until the middle of May. But the two of them seemed to get on well. ‘Marco was excellent, the sessions were great and I think Shaun probably learned a lot in a short space of time. ‘He’s always been a deep thinker, quite quiet. But very confident in his own ability as well.’ Maloney and Marshall were young Scots in a hard school of a Celtic dressing room run by John Hartson, Henrik Larsson, Chris Sutton and Co. Maloney overcame a couple of serious injuries and an earlier poor spell in England with Aston Villa to flourish down south late in his career. When Wigan produced a relegation great escape in 2012, Maloney’s contribution was pivotal with winning goals against Liverpool and Manchester United. And his game was a joy to watch within a Martinez masterclass of passing their way out of big trouble. Described by Martinez as not a ‘normal’ British player, Maloney wasted no time in ensuring his meticulous work and knowledge gained the respect of the big names in the Belgian camp. ‘I can imagine that,’ said Marshall. ‘He is very good at his job. He knows exactly what he is doing. ‘And remember that group at Celtic we had, that dressing room, would make you or break you. They
didn’t really coach you too much — it was sink or swim, really. The guys were so ruthless and hard on you but, looking back, I knew it was for your own good.
‘So he has been around big personalities in the dressing room from an early age and I don’t think he is having any problems with that.
‘It must be strange working against your own country just because you have been drawn against them, though. There was the friendly as well last year — so that will be three times now. But I think he loves it. He just loves coaching.’
Marshall and Maloney were last team-mates in October 2016 in Slovakia when Strachan’s Scotland fell to a humbling 3-0 defeat.
Allan McGregor and Craig Gordon then shared the goalkeeping duties for Scotland until Marshall’s comeback under Steve Clarke.
Following victory over Cyprus, the defeat in Belgium against the world’s top-ranked team was emphatic yet featured a host of positives for the new management to digest.
‘You think that we played quite well but still suffered relatively heavy defeat so, yeah, it was a strange one to get your head around,’ admitted Marshall.
‘I think their squad has that much quality in it and a lot of teams will struggle there. We were disappointed with the result in Brussels but I think we took a lot of confidence from the week as a whole.’