I really hope Turnbull gets a move to Southampton. A club that will almost certainly be fighting relegation next season and a club for which he'll almost certainly get extremely limited game time. He's not Andrea Pirlo. He's not going to be walking into that team or any team - he obviously wouldn't have walked into our team. This kid is either a fucking raging egoist or his agents are absolute hucksters. Good luck getting 20 grand a week bench-warming - if that. He'll be lucky to make the bench.
People are constantly wondering what's wrong with young players in Scottish fitba. Could it possibly be that they look at Mbappe, Neymar etc (not even just those superstar names, but even mid-range EPL players who are on 65 grand a week). on Instagram (or whatever the fuck it's called - the photo one) with their $75,000 watches, their 16 motors, their 12 mansions and their lives of fairy tale luxury and it's this base, crude and evil materialism that motivates them in life more than the actual romance and beauty that used to be football?
................
I remember Andrea Pirlo (pronounced Ann-dray-yaa) when he was just a six year old at Atalanta's training ground in Bergamo in 1985 while on holiday visiting my sister.
All the talk was about him and the uncanny skill he had, which I said to my brother in law, reminded me of Jimmy Johnstone.
It seems nuts to say this way back then (July '85) but his outstanding dribbling skill and concentration... staring down at the ball for long seconds before he kicked it....that everyone watching (about 40 people) would not deny a seemingly 'stupid' statement that this little boy (and he was a very small 6 year old) was going to play for Italy in a world cup final....and win it.
Make no mistake, there was something more about this boy, he was different, he was more committed, he was supremely concentrated, but more than anything he looked like he loved doing what he was doing.
This was a rare, cold and soaking wet July in Milan in Lombardy and Tuscany was no better, but it seemed no amount of rain would put this little whizz kid off....
At the end of his 30 minutes we were all in the lounge warming up, drying off, having an expresso, watching this little brat doing Formula 1 doughnuts, all the while STILL trying to hold the ball up at the end of his toe.....in torrential rain !!!!
Honestly, I don't think Andrea even noticed it WAS raining,.....Glasgow AND Scotland could have learned something about rain that day.......and no more moaning for the rest of the summer....
If any other Celtic fan ever witnessed this particular afternoon they would do as I did and approach this laddie and ask him if he had a Scottish grannie, and wanted to play for Scotland.
I even suggested to his Dad Sandro, that Italy are brilliant, they always will be, and the then current world champions full of star quality players, may never call on his son to play for them.....so..... if I could organise Andrea a Scottish grannie or blood connection would you let him and encourage him to play international football.....with us!!!!
His dad, a statuesque and tall man, of Giacinto Facchetti film star looks, looked at me for a few seconds, then leaned back in his chair with hands in his pockets, while Andrea's mum was stripping off his soaking wet clothes, bent down low towelling his back and legs dry...went wide eyed staring at me while Andrea (still not letting this filthy wet ball go from under his arms) was stretching over a table snatching at a cream bun, AND didn't even afford me the respect of looking at me when he answered me saying emphatically "I'm
GOING.........to play for Italy".
And that was that!
But it wasn't
what he said that hit me, it was the intensity in the way he said it, and the forced broken spacing between his words.
This boy knew, even at six, of his own brilliant capabilities, and did it with a confidence and verve that didn't need a word from his own parents. The rest of Pirlo's story is legend. often being described as the best midfielder in the world in his day.
Everything about this little guy screamed a fabulous footballing future beckoned..... way, way back then, where even I couldn't fail to see that.
He, and his parents had travelled all the way from Fiero (Lombardy, Italy)
to be there that day, and I think only to showcase his abilities. (about a 150 mile round trip)
They knew that even then, their son had out of this world skill......one in only tens of millions of other peoples sons....and THEY knew that Andrea knew that!
Nowadays I think back to that shitty summer in Italy '85, and remember everything about that time and feel privileged to have had a few minutes in his life, the only 'sunshine' I had during the whole time there that year.
The soon to be Great Franco Baresi was an onlooker that day and was I assume there to see what everyone was on about regarding Pirlo. I unfortunately was too late to have a word with him and maybe an autograph although I think he had only just started to hit the big time with AC Milan.
My brother in law joked that one day he might play against Scotland and "beat you lot all on his own", and how this came back to haunt us in 2007.
I do recall however suggesting then, that our own great Maestro Paul McStay may have a rival and said Pirlo himself might be called the Italian Maestro........as he is known by today.
However, Serie A team Brescia came for Pirlo at 7 years old, (1987) and at 14 (4'11") he played for Italy under 15's helping them beat Belgium 9 - 1, Austria 5 - 0 and USA 14 - 1... where Gazzetta Della Sport raved, described him as a genius, instrumental in assisting in 22 of the 28 goals Italy scored, scoring 4 himself.
Often misused, and yes an unchangeable, intrinsic ipse dixit from myself.... maybe, but
Andrea Pirlo was a true footballing genius of the day.
Brescia paid him £7.50 a week at 15 years old (1994) (£375 a year) while at 19, (1998) with AC Milan, he was paid £195, 000 per week. (£9.75 million p.a). At Juventus in 2015 he was paid £255, 000 per week... (12.25 million p.a.) making him Juve's SECOND best paid player to goalkeeper Buffon!!!
Turnbull seems to want it all NOW
without climbing the steady ladder to stardom.
If thats how it has to be, then I hope there's some one holding the ladder for him when he leaps up the rungs AND holding on tightly, because I don't think Motherwell or Celtic will be at the bottom waiting on him.... to cushion his fall... one bad injury and the sidelines of a forgotten man may be the best he can hope for.
Karamoko Dembele....... humility......enough said.
