Town boss Paul Jewell spent his Saturday afternoon watching League Two Barnet’s 0-0 home draw with nine-man Accrington Stanley, the second time the Blues manager has watched the Bees this week. Jewell, who was at Barnet's Johnstone's Paint Trophy victory at Colchester on Tuesday, was almost certainly checking out the London club’s 24-year-old winger Mark Marshall.
The Jamaican has been watched by a number of sides after an impressive 2010/11 and was the subject of a bid from a club believed to be Charlton Athletic earlier in the week. Millwall, Crystal Palace and Notts County are also understood to be amongst the interested parties.
Barnet boss Lawrie Sanchez said that offer was well below what the Bees want for the 5ft 7in tall wideman but concedes that Marshall will ultimately move on: "Mark will play higher league football. In the Championship without doubt. Whether at the moment I’m not sure.
"Mark Marshall is an exciting player as are [Izale] McLeod and [Steve] Kabba. Our best players are always going to have people looking at them.
"Barnet have a long tradition of players coming through but also getting a top price for them. That is the main thing at the moment.
"Any manager would be disappointed to lose good players. You always want to work with good players and help players develop, which at this end of football is part and parcel of the game. But you want the players to go at the right time which suits both them and the club.”
Sanchez, speaking after the Bees’ 3-1 win at Colchester, said Marshall was aware of the interest in him and was pleased with the way he handled it: "To be fair to him his head was a bit all over the place before the game.
"But I said ‘you’re a professional and professionals have to play when their heads are full of different things’. I think he did that tonight and I am very proud of him.”
Marshall came through the ranks at non-league Carshalton, breaking into the first team in the 2005/06 season.
A spell in the Blue Square Premier with Grays Athletic followed after an unsuccessful trial with League One Yeovil Town.
Having spent a short spell with Eastleigh in 2008, Marshall moved into the Football League with Swindon where he spent two years — apart from a two-month loan spell at Hereford in 2009 — before being released and joining Barnet in the summer of 2010.
Last season, left-sided Marshall, who is contracted to the Bees until next June, scored seven goals in 49 starts and one sub appearance and has made nine starts so far this campaign without scoring.
Blues manager Jewell has said that he is keen to add attacking pace and youth to his squad on a number of occasions with another wideman understood to be amongst the players he is targeting.
Football League clubs can sign players on loan for up to 93 days - often with a view to future permanent moves - from Thursday.