MAGIC MIKE WAS JAN'S MAN!

CHRIS DUNLAVY REMEMBERS THE TOUCH OF CLASS THAT WAS MIKE MARSH

- CHRIS DUNLAVY

JUST CHAMPION: Mike Marsh celebrates helping Kidderminster to the Conference title and, insets, as assistant manager at Swansea and playing for Liverpool

AS the nights drew in during the autumn of 1999, Jan Molby was 36, overweight and hadn’t played for two years.

But with Kidderminster Harriers faltering in their pursuit of the Conference title, the legendary Liverpool midfielder was seriously considering a return to action.

“We were a good team,” says the Dane, who had taken charge at Aggborough in the summer of 1999 after a brief stint in charge at Swansea City.

“But we needed someone to glue it all together. I couldn’t think of anyone, and I even started to try and get myself fit. Then it came to me – Mike Marsh!

“I’d played with Mike at Liverpool, but he’d retired at 29 and taken an insurance pay out, so couldn’t play in the pro game.

“I called him and said ‘Marshy, you are the only player I need.’ And wasn’t he just. We lost one game out of 23 from the day he signed and ended up winning the league.”

Marsh played Non-League football for only five years, but is still regarded by many as the best player ever to kick a ball in the Conference.

A midfielder of grace, finesse and considerable intelligence, Marsh was plucked from a Kirkby pub team in 1987 by Liverpool’s assistant manager Phil Thompson. Within two years he was playing alongside his boyhood heroes.

Overawed and underused in team replete with talent, Marsh nevertheless featured in 101 games for the Reds. He also scored six goals, most memorably against Auxerre in a UEFA Cup tie at Anfield.