Alex Neil bemoans the public debate around the Turnbull fiasco
David Turnbull’s proposed move to Celtic had more twists and turns than a meeting of the Chubby Checker Appreciation Society.
After 10 days of turmoil, it collapsed, with the Hoops left without their first signing target of the summer, and the 19-year-old facing a fight to rebuild his career after a knee operation.
It served as a timely notice, during this spell of wheeling and dealing in the transfer window, that no deal is as straightforward as it may appear.
Even before the move collapsed, Turnbull was the target for a torrent of criticism from some Celtic fans, citing that opting at first for Norwich City over the Hoops showed Turnbull and his representatives were more interested in finances than football.
As someone who has been a manager in the upper echelons of the English game for the past four years, Alex Neil knows the gains to be had on the other side of Hadrian’s Wall.
But he also has sympathy for the predicament Turnbull found himself in.
“I think the situation with David Turnbull was a difficult one,” said the 38-year-old Scot (below), now in charge of Championship outfit, Preston, after managing Norwich City in the Premier League.
“The problem you had is that, as with any transfer, you don’t know all the facts. So what people do is surmise.
“Some maybe jumped to the conclusion that he wanted more money, or whatever the situation may be.
“But having been involved in a lot of transfers, I would say nothing is clear-cut. There are a lot of moving parts to every deal.
“You have everybody trying to influence the player – the agent, the buying club, his family and his pals.
“The whole thing can be pressurised. The player has to be secure in his mind about what he wants at the end of it, and then try to get himself the best deal. “That is always the thing about negotiating. “You try to get the best deal for yourself, and the club will be trying to get the best deal for them.
“So I think it was harsh on the young lad for people to be criticising him, or jumping on the bandwagon and saying he has been greedy or whatever.
“I honestly believe that if Celtic had thought that, they would not have gone back in for him. I think the fact they did is significant.
“There seems to have been negotiation tactics used by both sides, which I don’t think panned out very well.
“A lot seems to have been done in the public arena, and that didn’t work out well for anyone.
“Those type of discussions tend to be done in private, so it was surprising that wasn’t the case here.”
For now, Turnbull is back to being a Motherwell player, and faces a difficult period ahead to get back to full-fitness, even before he attempts to win over the Fir Park faithful again. Neil appreciates those difficulties, and believes staying in Scotland, for now, is the best thing for the player’s career.
“If you join a Premier League club for £3-million – as was the proposed move between Motherwell and Norwich City – there is a chance they are looking at you as a project player,” Neil continued.
“They can say to themselves, ‘Well, if this doesn’t work, we will be able to punt him out for another two or three million anyway’.
“In England, there are so many big clubs, and so many teams who are capable of selling out their grounds.
“They get lots of money in and are all massive in their own right.
“Up here, you have the Old Firm dominating, and Hearts and Hibs in behind them.
“Celtic were ready to spend £3m on Turnbull, and if somebody was spending that kind of money on me in Scotland, I would be confident of my chances of getting a game.
“If the fee was only a couple of hundred grand, you might be thinking to yourself,‘This could be tough’.
“So there would have been a lot more expectation on him at Celtic.
“From what I saw of him last season, he should have been confident of meeting those expectations. He showed he is a good player.
“So I hope he can get over this episode and have his career back on track as soon as possible.”
Neil is likewise optimistic about why lies ahead for himself and his Preston side in the 2019-20 campaign.
“With eight games remaining last season, we were outside the play-offs only by goal difference,” he said.
“But then we dipped away at the end of the campaign, which was disappointing.
“The season before, we missed out on getting into the play-offs on the last day. So our aim is to try to get into that top six, and if we can better that, then great. But it is a difficult task.
“The Championship really has become Premier League Two. Some of the funds available to managers – and some of the wages players are on – are incredible.
“To be fair, I think it will be more of a level playing field this season than it has been for a few seasons.
“The likes of Aston Villa are out of it now, and I think that helps. It should be an interesting campaign.
“We have got a good squad at the club, and now it is just a case of trying to top up.
“We have pinpointed three of four positions that we want to strengthen and, if we can do that, there is no reason why we can’t go and mount a challenge.”