Handover midfielder reveals the quality that makes Postecoglou’s squad thrive on pressure

David Turnbull is looking forward to the battle for places in the Celtic side next season. Backed by the belief that Ange Postecoglou passes on to his players.

The midfielder joined Celtic in August 2020, the worst time possible as the club imploded with a series of unlikely events culminating in a trophy-less season. Finishing second in the SPFL Premiership, an embarrassing 25 points in arrears. 

Turnbull had to wait until December to get a chance under Neil Lennon, impressing against Rennes alongside Ismaila Soro in one of the few highlights with the Scottish Cup won before Christmas. 

Ange Postecoglou relied heavily on Turnbull at the start of the season but the hamstring curse struck the midfielder during the League Cup Final, forcing him out of action for three months. 

Olivier Ntcham, Ryan Christie, Nir Bitton and Tom Rogic have been replaced by Matt O’Riley, Reo Hatate and Yosuke Ideguchi with a new look midfield anchored by Callum McGregor expected to emerge next season. 

Turnbull is already looking forward to next season, telling the Daily Record about the key quality imposed by Postecoglou: 

The manager has been great with me. He’s given me and the other boys so much belief. He puts his style across and it suits the players. 

There’s a lot of midfielders and other players fighting for every position here and that’s good for the team. There are boys wanting to make their way into the team and that brings the standards up every day. 

All the lads went through the season really believing in themselves. And the way we clinched it just topped it all off. It was great to get a goal on the last day. 

Turnbull will find out this week if he has made it into the Scotland squad for the June internationals, for some players a complete break would be welcome but after missing three months of the season an extra fortnight of action could be very welcome for the midfielder.