Celtic boss Lennon first noticed Turnbull’s talent while managing Hibs
After seeing his first shot at a move to Celtic derailed by injury and having to bide his time on the bench for much of this season, David Turnbull has grasped his opportunity in the first team.
A man-of-the-match performance in the Europa League against Lille was crowned with the winning goal, and he impressed again in Celtic’s 2-0 win over Kilmarnock. on Sunday.
The Scotland under-21 international’s inclusion in Neil Lennon’s starting lineups has coincided with an improvement in the team’s fortunes, and supporters are eager for him to remain a focal point in the side.
Turnbull’s potential has been apparent for some time, and his former Motherwell under-20 coach Stephen Craigan has recalled the moment Lennon first became aware of the player’s ability during his time as Hibs manager.
Speaking on the Football Pass YouTube channel, Craigan said: “It’s funny how these things transpire. It was probably round about April or May 2018, and Hibs had that very good under-20 side.
“I think they won the Scottish Cup that year. They won the league, they were captained by Ryan Porteous. And we played them away on the last day of the season at the Oriam.
“I had a bit of an under-strength side because our first team players were struggling so Stephen (Motherwell manager Robinson) didn’t want to take any risks, but David played in the game.
“Hibs beat us 4-2 and it was the trophy lift right after that game. And after the game I was just talking to Neil while the players were getting their medals, and we stayed to applaud them and show respect towards their efforts.
“He actually said to me quietly ‘Who’s your number eight?’, and I said ‘Why?’.
“He said ‘Because I really like him’ and I said ‘It’s David Turnbull’. I said ‘You’ve got to keep an eye on him honestly, he’s a top player’.
“He said ‘Even for the result and the way the game went, he was the one player that stood out for me’.
“An I kind of forgot about it, you know you move on and you disappear and you forget about the conversation. I didn’t even tell David about it.
“But it wasn’t until Neil got the Celtic job and the interest appeared it came back into my mind, and there’s no doubt coaches and managers keep an eye on players, they want to follow their progress, so he would have been interested to see when David made his step into Motherwell’s first team and how he would react.
“And to get 15 goals between November 2018 and May 2019 from midfield as a 19-year-old was incredible, so right from that day it certainly planted the seed in Neil Lennon’s mind, and eventually Neil took him to Celtic.”
Turnbull could land his first silverware as a Celtic player on Sunday when Lennon’s side face Hearts in the Scottish Cup Final at Hampden.
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