Fax v Batley: Marshall spends morning with Fleetwood boss Joey Barton

The former Manchester City and England midfielder, who took charge of the League 1 club last year, is a well known rugby league watcher.

Marshall and Barton swapped coaching notes, with the Fax boss sitting in on Barton’s video session ahead of Saturday’s meeting with league leaders Luton.

“We’re both young coaches and we’re both interested in learning and improving,” said Marshall.

“Joey likes his rugby league, so he’s also interested in what we do.

“It’s always interesting to look at different environments and different sports and seeing what you can take from those experiences.

“I watched them train and looked at how they analyse their opposition and break that down.

“It was a good morning.”

Barton, who made 269 Premier League appearances, including 130 for City, was a controversial figure as a player with a string of an, and off, field misdemeanours to his name.

Among other incidents, he served a 12-game ban in 2012 for violent conduct, was jailed in 2008 for assault and affray and was banned for 13 months for betting offences prior to taking charge at Fleetwood.