Celtic keeper David Marshall came to attention when during a memorable Celtic Park UEFA Cup win over Barcelona in March 2004 when he saved a Ronaldinho penalty in a 1-0 victory after Rab Douglas had been red carded. He made 47 appearances for Celtic, winning two international caps, before losing his place to Polish number one Arthur Boruc.

He joined Norwich City on 17th January 2007 on loan until the end of the season. Marshall was handed Robert Green's number one squad number. The 21-year-old revealed the chance of first team football under one of his boyhood idols lay behind a Carrow Road switch. “I grew up watching Peter Grant play for Celtic so I know how passionate he is. I've been speaking to him over the last couple of days and he's shown me he wants to get Norwich back to where they belong. I'm here to help and hopefully we can pick up a few wins and get us back up there.”

Grant was delighted to finally complete his third transfer window signing following the permanent deals for Luke Chadwick and Chris Brown. “Everyone knows I wanted David here. The lad is a talented goalkeeper and I never made any secret of my admiration for him.”

David injured his ankle ten minutes into the FA Cup fifith round tie at Chelsea on 17th February 2007 and was ruled out for the rest of the season.

Relaising that he would not be first-choice at Celtic for the 2007/8 season behid Boruc and with competition from former Inverness stopper Mark Brown and academy prospect Michael McGovern, David submitted a transfer request at the end of May 2007. Norwich were said to have made a £500,000 bid whics rejected by Celtic, although the suggestion is that a deal is likely to be brokered for Marshall. David finally signed a three-year contract with Norwich City on 4th July 2007, with the transfer fee believed to be close to £1,000,000.

David made his second Norwich debut on the opening day of the 2007/8 season in the 0-0 draw against Preston at Deepdale.His fine form for Norwich during the pre-season saw him called up to the Scotland squad for the friendly against South Africa in August 2007.

Following Norwich's relegation to League One at the end of the 2008/9 season and Marshall's successful game for Scotland B against their Northern Ireland counterparts in May 2009, David signed for Cardiff City on 12th May 2009 for a fee of around £500,000.. He returned to the Scottish international team for the World Cup qualifier against Norway on 12th August 2009 but conceded 4 goals as Scotland lost 4-0.

Marshall won the Championship title with Cardiff when they drew with Burnley on 20th April 2013. They secured promotion to the Premier League on 16th April 2013when they drew with Charlton. That result took Cardiff back to the top flight after a 51 year absence.

Despite Marshall's heroics, Cardiff finished bottom of the Premier League in 2013/14 and returned to the Championship. Marshall was then linked with a switch to Liverpool to act as back-up for Simon Mignolet whilst Arsenal were also said to be interested. In early June 2014, Arsenal were reported to have bid £6m for Marshall.

Marshall was linked in July 2015 with a £5million move to West Brom to act as cove/competition for Ben Foster and Boaz Myhill.

In January 2016, he was linked with a move to Everton with Cardiff placing a £10million fee on him.

Marshall joined Hull on 30th August 2016 for an undisclosed fee which could reach £5million depending on add-on clauses. He signed a three year contract with Hull. He made 280 appearances for the Bluebirds. Marshall wasn't in goal when Hull lost 4-0 to Crystal Palace on 14th May 2017 and were relegated from the Premier League.

Marshall's contract with Hull expired on 30th June 2019 with him having made 67 appearances for the Tigers. On 8th July 2019, he signed for Wigan Athletic on a two year deal.

Following Wigan's relegation at the end of 2019/20 and their entry into administration, the club sought to off-load their top earners. On 18th August 2020 it was reported that Marshall was in talks with Derby pending a medical. Stoke City were linked with the former Celtic keeper, but Derby look poised to clinch him on a two-year deal. His move to Derby was confirmed on 21st August 2020 with Marshall signing a two year deal. "He will be a positive addition to not only our goalkeeping department but our squad," said Rams boss Phillip Cocu.

On 12th November 2020 Scotland drew 1-1 with Serbia in Belgrade in the play off final to qualify for Euro 2020. The game went to a penalty shoot-out and Scotland won 5-4 with Marshall saving from Aleksandar Mitrovic to send Scotland to their first major championship since 1998. He was their first choice goalkeeper at Euro2020, playing in all three games in the finals.

On 11th January 2022 he signed for QPR on a permanent contract until the end of the 2021/22 season. Although he had played 33 games for Derby in 2020/21, he hadn't been used during the first half of the 2021/22 season. QPR signed him as first choice keeper Seny Deng is at the African Cup of Nations whilst back-up Jordan Archer is injured.

Released at the end of the 2021/22 season, he signed for Scottish club Hibernian on a two year contract.