NEIL LENNON welcomed David Turnbull, yesterday’s £3m signing from Motherwell, to Celtic this morning and looked ahead to what he expects to be an impressive time for the midfielder wearing the Hoops.
It’s fair to say that Turnbull’s better late than never arrival at Celtic – his move has been delayed by just over a year due to knee problem uncovered at his first medical in June 2019 – has been somewhat overshadowed by the hugely frustrating Champions League defeat to Ferencvaros the night before his signing was announced. The Hungarian Champions had watched a few re-runs of earlier Celtic horror shows against the likes of Copenhagen and. Cluj so knew the script when it came to a smash and grab exercise in the east end of Glasgow.
Speaking at his earlier than usual Media Conference today the Celtic manager started by reflecting on the disappointing result on Wednesday, stressing that he thought that the performance from his players was fine.
“We’ve had a blow and that’s what it is,” Lennon said. “One of our priorities was making in-roads in the Champions League, but it wasn’t by any means down to a bad performance. Let’s get that clear. When you look at it in the cold light of day, if you look at the stats and the performance, we dominated.
“We got caught cold from a bad goal from our point of view, but for the majority of the game, I thought the attitude, the intensity, the tempo of the game was good. It got away from us and it’s a sore one.
“Now we need to move forward. We’ve got a big league campaign ahead of us, we’ve got trophies to defend domestically, and we still have European football which we need to maximise.”
On his new signing, a player Lennon has admired for a considerable period, the manager revealed that Turnbull would go into the squad for Sunday, although the disappointing news is that Odsonne Edouard will not be available for this one.
💬 “Coming here is exciting for him, it’s a challenge, and I think it’s one that he’s really looking forward to.”
Neil Lennon on new Bhoy, @10DavidTurnbull! 🍀
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) August 28, 2020
“I’m delighted with bringing in David Turnbull. He’s a brilliant, young Scottish talent. We wanted him this time last year, he’s overcome a number of obstacles and that speaks a lot for his character. I hope he flourishes here.
“I think he’s done brilliantly. We’ve had a look at him over the last few games and he’s got a real touch of class about him, which is a rarity in the modern game. David comes in knowing the values of the club, what it means to the supporters and what it means to the Scottish game. Coming here is exciting for him, it’s a challenge, and I think it’s one that he’s really looking forward to.
💬👊 @10DavidTurnbull#WelcomeTurnbull 🟢⚪
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) August 27, 2020
“It’s been a bit stop-start for Motherwell this season so far, but Stephen has to keep evolving his team. He loses players every year, he’s lost another one now to us, but he always seems to find a way. They had a brilliant season last year until the pandemic stopped it.
“I think Sunday will be a tough game. Stephen has got some exuberance and some energy in the team, but it’s a game that we want to use to get back on track after the last defeat and get back to winning ways as quickly as possible.”
Watch Neil Lennon’s full media conference below…
Manager Neil Lennon held his pre-match news conference at Lennoxtown this morning.
🗣 “It will be a tough game [on Sunday]. Stephen [Robinson] has got some exuberance in his side but it’s a game we want to get back to winning ways.” #CELMOT
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) August 28, 2020
