Exclusive Park on Brown’s future

DONALD Park received an ear- bashing from David Turnbull’s youth coach Stephen Craigan when he left the Motherwell kid out of his Scotland U19 side – but knew the gifted youngster was destined to go far.

And he believes the way that Turnbull has handled his record- breaking £ 3.5m move to Celtic during the 2020/ 21 campaign shows that he has the necessary attributes to be a success at Parkhead in the seasons to come.

Park called up Turnbull when he was in charge of the national age- group team back in the 2017/ 18 season and was immediately impressed with his ability and potential during training. However, he preferred Lewis Ferguson, the then Hamilton midfielder who now plays for Aberdeen, when he selected his starting line- up for a European qualifier and incurred the wrath of Fir Park coach Craigan as a result.

“David was with one of the under- 19 teams that I took and he did great,” he said. “But it was between David and Lewis Ferguson for a game and I played Lewis. Stephen Craigan came on the phone to me and gave me dog’s abuse!

“I did play him in a couple of games. The times I had him he did really well. He can get forward and score goals which is a real plus. He has done absolutely fantastically since. But so has Lewis, of course.”

Park continued: “David is very forward- thinking. He makes well- timed runs and can finish. He has got attributes in attack.

“It’s great when young Scottish players get the opportunity to play and progress at a big club like Celtic. That augurs well.”