The 49-year-old held off the competition of a strong batch of applicants, which included previous boss and All Whites assistant coach Neil Emblen, to land the job and has put pen to paper on a 12-month contract.
Marshall is delighted to have taken charge and says his first goal will be to put a squad together capable of challenging for honours.
“I’m obviously elated,” he says.
“It is a big challenge. Whoever got the nod was always going to be behind the eight ball in terms of player recruitment but that is something I will address immediately, starting with the players who were at the club last season.”
That group will not include midfield pair Chris Bale and Martin Bullock as the former has moved to fierce rivals Auckland City and the latter has hung up his boots at the age of 37.
Both are major losses, particularly that of Bale as he enjoyed a superb campaign last season and was named ASB Premiership player of the year.
One player Marshall is looking forward to working with is Fijian striker Roy Krishna, who he says destroyed his Three Kings United side whilst playing for Waitakere City recently in the Northern Premier League.
“On his day he is absolute class,” Marshall says. “All he needs is to be more consistent to really be a great player in this league.”
Prior to joining Three Kings, Marshall coached at Central United and had a stint in the hot seat at Auckland City. He also spent time in the professional game in England as assistant academy manager at Portsmouth.
He holds a position coaching female students at Mt Albert Grammar and will be allowed to continue in that role during his reign at Waitakere.
Chairman Peter Bult says appointing the new boss was not an easy assignment.
“In the end it came down to Paul Marshall and Neil Emblen,” he says.
“It was a really difficult decision and we had a lot of input from various sources before making the final decision.”
Marshall’s first challenge will be a Charity Cup clash against Auckland City at Fred Taylor Park on October 28.

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