David Turnbull looks like starting at Ibrox on Saturday and could be the match winner for Neil Lennon as he looks to get his Celtic side back into the title race with a vengeance against the early pacesetters, theRangers. The former Motherwell star, a £3.25m summer signing for Celtic had to be patient in the early part of the season but as Celtic’s form faltered in the autumn the manager looked to his young guns and Turnbull’s star has probably shone the brightest as Celtic picked up the pieces, completed an historic Quadruple Treble and set about the task of rescuing the Ten-in-a-Row bid.
The next step is this afternoon when Dundee Utd are the visitors to Celtic Park and three points are absolutely essential if the recovery of The Ten is to remain on-track. Turnbull, now a regular starter, could have a say in the outcome against a Dundee Utd side are now finding their feet back in the Scottish Premiership.
Speaking to David Friel at Scottish Sun, Turnbull is quick to praise Neil Lennon for the faith he has shown in his 21 year old midfield star. “The gaffer’s been brilliant with me. When I wasn’t playing he was always talking to me. He was telling me to bide my time and assuring me that my chance would come.
“He was right, he showed faith in me by putting me in and I really hope I’ve repaid that. I want to continue to do that and I’m grateful to him for putting me in.
“I had shown what I could do at Motherwell and started a lot of games there. When I came here I just tried to show it in training as much as I could too.
“So, I’m sure he knew it wasn’t a gamble or a brave decision to put me in — and I always believed I could make an impact. I had a lot of confidence from the start to the season I had at Motherwell. I felt I was playing well and it was probably the fittest I’d been when I came here.
“That gave me a lot of belief and to get those games under my belt makes me feel that I can kick on again and continue to get better and better. It’s finally all paying off and I’m delighted,” the Celtic midfielder added.
While the supporters are looking towards a win at Ibrox, Turnbull is more focused on the task at hand in today’s midweek 3pm kick-off against Dundee Utd. “Every game is a big game and a tough game,” Turnbull stated. “We’ll be looking to get positive results in all of our games as our aim is to really start putting a run together.
“There’s obviously a belief within the dressing room that we can still win the league. We believe in each other every day and we are just going to keep doing what we are doing.
“Hopefully we can go under the radar and keep getting results. We can’t focus on anyone else, only ourselves, and that’s what we’re doing.
“It feels like we’re getting back into the groove again. We’re going into every game with confidence again, we’re scoring goals and winning games. It feels good, so long may it continue.
“We had obviously been struggling, but then we got the result in the Europa League game against Lille and since then we’ve just kicked on. Everybody who has played has done well, we’re playing well now as a team and hopefully we can continue to do that.”
