GATESHEAD International Stadium has hosted some top performers down the years.

From Tina Turner and Bon Jovi to Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Guns N’ Roses, music’s great and the good have strutted their stuff on the north-east stage.

Similarly, Gateshead has made its mark with the athletics elite as the venue for five world records.

But it was not the pitch, nor the surrounding track, where the stadium left its biggest impact on Bradford City’s fortunes.

That moment, mid-July last year, came in the car park.

It was outside the team bus where a conflab between manager and player transformed the fortunes of more than just that one individual but a whole team.

While his team-mates shuffled on to the coach in readiness to travel a couple of hours up the road to Scotland, Mark Marshall had his ear bent by Stuart McCall.

Just before that, the Bantams boss had declined my request to speak to the winger after a low-key friendly.

It’s unusual for McCall to say no to player interviews, especially in pre-season, and he typically apologised before spelling out the reasons.

He wasn’t sure at that stage if Marshall would be staying and didn’t want to make the paper or himself look foolish with a piece that might quickly be out of date.

McCall asked to put any mention of Marshall on hold for a few days – and then went off to sweet-talk the player into staying on the tour.

At that stage, Marshall was all for travelling back the other way. After a difficult first season, falling out with the previous management and away from his family and London roots, he was open to an escape route.

When McCall arrived at Valley Parade to begin his second stint in charge, there was already a fax in the building from Marshall’s agent asking about the chances of his client moving on.

Marshall was, after all, thought to be one of the bigger earners on the books and had not had a look-in.

Rob Page, Marshall’s former boss at Port Vale, was keen to make an offer to take him to Northampton. It seemed an appealing way to cut his losses.

But McCall can be a persuasive character. He was persistent in telling Marshall to stay with City for their week in St Andrew’s and see how things went.

Then, if his mind was still set on getting away, a decision would be made.

Marshall stepped on the coach and agreed to give it another go with the squad north of the border and McCall had the opportunity to get him firmly onside.

Three days later, we spoke again about Marshall on the side of the pitch at St Johnstone – and McCall delivered an eloquent case for making him a big player in City’s season to come.

The “battle”, as such, had been won. Marshall had just needed an arm round his shoulder – a “cuddle”, in the manager’s words – and the beaming smile was back.

Suddenly a player very much on the fringes previously was thrust back into the spotlight and given the opportunity to unlock a talent that had been seen only fleetingly.

Marshall had not started a game in the final four months of last season but McCall put him straight in on opening day and he has barely missed out since.

Of the other outfield players, only Romain Vincelot, James Meredith and Nat Knight-Percival have played more minutes.

On Saturday, Marshall claimed his 15th assist of the season after playing in Tony McMahon on a lung-bursting overlap, having early banged in his sixth goal. None of them have been tap-ins.

A crowd-pleaser with an end product, emerging from Kyel Reid’s shadow last season as City’s major menace going forward – and not just out wide.

Unlike Reid, Marshall has looked equally threatening on whichever wing he patrols. Defenders know there is no “swinger” leg they can steer him towards.

There has also been a consistency to his play often lacking in wingers. It goes with the territory that the fastest, most attack-minded outlets can flatter to deceive in the final third of the pitch.

Marshall, more often than not, has delivered and his influence behind City’s return to the play-offs is huge.

You would have got long odds on him in July going on to be crowned player of the year. But there “ain’t nobody” who has deserved it more.