Marshall began his career as a youth player with Tynecastle Boys Club before signing for Rangers in January 1980. He then suffered a broken leg playing for the Ibrox club's reserve side aged 15 and after failing to play for the first-team was sent out on loan to East Stirlingshire. Marshall then signed for Scottish Junior club Broxburn Athletic before returning to the senior ranks in December 1982 with East Fife, before signing for Falkirk and then Celtic in 1991 for £270,000, having turned down a chance to rejoin Rangers when it was made clear he would remain behind Andy Goram in the selection order. Due to the good form of Packie Bonner at Celtic, Marshall was in and out of the first-team and was eventually sent out on loan for first-team experience to St Mirren and English club Stoke City, where he played thirteen times in the 1993–94 season. It was not until Tommy Burns was appointed Celtic's manager at the start of the 1994–95 season that Marshall was the regular first choice goalkeeper. However, that year he was criticised for an error which led to a goal in a shock loss to Raith Rovers in the 1994 Scottish League Cup Final, while Bonner took the jersey for the 1995 Scottish Cup Final victory, Marshall collecting a medal as an unused substitute. After seven seasons at Celtic Park, Marshall then signed for Kilmarnock in 1998, after Dragoje Lekovic departed the Rugby Park club halfway through the 1997–98 season. He represented the East Ayrshire club in the UEFA Cup and in the 2001 Scottish League Cup Final, lost to Celtic. Marshall played his last match for Killieat home versus his former club Celtic on 25 May 2003 at the age of 39 and then moved to Motherwell, helping the Steelmen reach the 2005 Scottish League Cup Final, a defeat to Rangers. His final senior appearance came at the start of the following season, a 4–4 draw against Celtic
Marshall left Motherwell in November 2005 to become Hibernian's goalkeeping coach, a position he held until July 2009. He then worked for Alloa Athletic and St Johnstone as a goalkeeping coach before returning to Motherwell in August 2011 as their full-time goalkeeping coach. Marshall then left Fir Park in the close season of 2015 to take up the position of goalkeeping coach at Aberdeen, replacing Jim Leighton.
Personal life
Marshall's father was also a goalkeeper named Gordon, who mainly played for Hearts, Newcastle United and Arbroath and was capped at under-23 level by England. Marshall is married with two daughters named Amy and Fay. His younger brotherScott played as a defender with Arsenal, Southampton and Celtic. His sister played basketball and has 58 caps for Scotland. He trained as a hairdresser as a young man in Edinburgh, and indicated he would like to resume the occupation when interviewed by a newspaper in 2019.
