Turnbull had won lottery but he got

Flattened by bus

He has had aspersions cast against his character that no 19-year- old should ever have to endure.

To top it all off, he’s had his life turned upside down, back to front, high to low and back again, then turned to dust like a click of Thanos’ fingers.

It’s time to spare a thought for David Turnbull, a regular teenager from a working-class background with a gift for the game, who neither asked for, expected nor demanded any of what has hit him in the last few weeks.

Yet here he is this weekend, sitting in his living room in Wishaw, wondering what the hell just happened.

Sure, it’s a business. Sure, players are some of its biggest beneficiaries. But they’re also some of its biggest victims.

And the commodifying of kids in football at times, seeing them as nothing but another transaction, is an affront to decency.

That’s the way of it, though. Celtic fans will barely see him as a dot in their rear-view mirror this weekend after the big unveiling of their £ 7million showpiece defender as their summer’s actual first signing.

They will be wondering how Neil Lennon will fill the midfielder-shaped hole in their squad. Who’s next?

Motherwell fans will be thinking they’ve got the worst of all worlds. No three million quid, and no class midfielder starting the season for them to salve it either. Who’ll take his place?

It will be left to those around the boy to help him pick up the pieces and come back stronger.

That won’t be easy, not because of what he faces physically.

It’s more about getting his mental well-being right, getting him to a place where he comes out of it to defy everyone currently doubting him.

Because right now, he’ll sti ll be completely shellshocked.

By all accounts he hasn’t darkened the door of the physio’s room at Fir Park in four years and even then it was only to get a dead leg seen to.

He didn’t miss a single day’s training in the entirety of last season.

In the actual physical examination he did with Celtic, testing the strength of his joints, he was completely asymptomatic. There wasn’t a single sign of any weakness.

And contrary to reports, he didn’t even do a medical with Norwich, far less fail one.

Only a precautionary CT scan showed the problem with his cartilage that neither he, his club, his doc, his folks, his lawyer nor anyone else knew a damn thing about.

The thing is, he could play another 15 years and not notice it, not feel a thing.

Or he could kick a ball in the back garden this afternoon, it could go and right there, it would be beyond repair.

That’s how freakish, how extreme, the whole scenario is.

Just think for a second about how that hits you.

One minute you’re sitting there, an overnight millionaire, planning on buying your folks a new house, giving them as well as yourself a better life, playing Champions League football for the biggest club in the country, maybe earning your first full Scotland cap if you’re doing all right.

The next you’re not only being told it’s gone, but you have to go through a surgery you had no idea you needed to even think about starting to get it back?

That’s going to require some fortitude to not feel sorry for yourself, to not be looking for people to blame.

According to those who k now him best, it ’ s a quality he has.

Right now it will take a little while to bubble back to the surface through the anguish. They tried to keep the deal alive. He tried himself, he was even wi l l ing to sacrif ice a serious chunk of his end to make it happen as it fell apart. In the end, though, Motherwell did the right thing by their player, calling a halt for the sake of his physical and mental health. By that stage, business or not, it should not have been about money. The best analogy this column has heard to describe it is that he had the winning lottery ticket in his hand, he was hit by a bus on the way to collect it, and the ticket blew off in the wind. Not only does he not have the ticket, he has to deal with the pain of the bus hitting him as well. The big difference is, Turnbull (left) can write himself another winning ticket.

It’s not a career death sentence. Getting the op done now isn’t a cure, because there’s not an injury, it’s prevention.

Dealing with the consequences in the meantime is top of the list of priorities and he’s got good people around him.

His lawyer, Liam O’Donnell, has played a blinder these past few weeks, getting him the deal of his dreams.

He was criticised but he found his player all his options, let him see the whole field, then let him make his choice.

Not on money, because he’d have earned more in the EPL with Norwich, but on football.

He’ll be there to support him through it, so will Alan Burrows and Stevie Robinson at Motherwell, so will his family and friends.

As for anyone who thinks the kid deserved any of this? He’ll hopefully prove them all wrong in the end. Fair play to Celtic. It was said they needed to back Neil Lennon the way they’d have backed a Rafa Benitez or Davie Moyes but there was scepticism that they actually would.

Spending £7million on Christopher Jullien, a centre-half whose calibre is aimed more at Champions League than Scottish league, is a statement signing.

They’ll need more, a good few more, and they’ll almost certainly part with Kieran Tierney along the way, but if this is their benchmark for the summer, then they’re setting it high.

There will be those who think Port Glasgow Juniors following their sponsorship deal from tonic wine El Dorado last season with the ferociously alcoholic, caffeine-nuked Dragon Soop this year is a riot.

They’ll point to the fact that every vice is covered by even our biggest clubs, with gambling firms, vape products and cannabis involved in sponsorship.

It appears there’s no ethical line far enough in the distance that we won’t cross it to take their money.

P.S. Why Caramel Wafers for the Challenge Cup rather than the infinitely superior Caramel Log? Jim Goodwin is the latest evidence that Alloa chairman Mike Mulraney knows a boss when he sees one.

As with Paul Hartley and Jack Ross, he finds them, backs them, then does the decent thing by them when they succeed and bigger clubs come calling.

Whoever he goes for next, get your money on them being quoted for something bigger in a year’s time.

Wayne Rooney had the courtesy to distinguish between coaching and management but it didn’t make a premise that put Louis van Gaal ahead of Sir Alex Ferguson any less lamentable.

Fergie may not have Barcelona, Ajax, Bayern Munich or a top-class international side on his CV but if he had wanted to, he could have done all or any of that.

Whether Rooney is speaking to a Dutch mag or not, he would do well to remember the man who got him to where he is.