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Ah, so when you said you “leaked” the info you meant “made up”

I can see my point is still being missed, but I'll take the blame for not explaining it very well. Turnbull is one of many Scottish players over the last decade or two who have either turned down moves to England (or abroad) *at any age*, or who have spent one season and come running back home. It's a trend that, in my opinion, is part of the deeper issues in the Scottish game. It wasn't that long ago, Scottish players - some from the lower divisions - were making moves down south to further their career e.g. Steve Nichol from Ayr Utd to Liverpool when he was 19, Andy Gray from Dundee Utd to Aston Villa when he was 19, Pat Nevin from Clyde to Chelsea when he was 19, Alan Hansen from Partick Thistle to Liverpool when he was 22, Gary McAllister from Motherwell to Leicester City when he was 20, Steve Clarke from St Mirren to Chelsea when he was 24. None of them feeling the need to keep their commute to a short drive to Glasgow. All of them prospered after their moves. Even our own McKinstry took the leap to join Leeds at the ripe old age of 16. It's not a criticsm of any player. Everyone is free to make their living however they see fit. It's just very noticable that there has been a lot of traffic heading North up the M74 and A1 in recent years, but much less heading south and I think that is a major factor in the overall poor health of our national game.

McGinn was a couple of months away from his 24th birthday when he signed for Villa. Bit of a difference moving away from family and friends at 24 years old rather than 19 years old. It's easy for us to say as adults that the smartest move is to England where there's more money and a higher level of competition, but I'm not sure if we'd be willing to do the same at that age given the choice (although I'm sure there'll be a few on here who'll tell me that they moved from Glasgow to London to find work as a chimney sweep at 14 or something). I fully expect Turnbull at 24 years old to be thinking differently about his career than he is at 19. There's really no rush to go down south, he could have signed for Celtic, seen out the entirely of the deal they offered him and still be the same age McGinn was when he left Hibs.

I imagine I'll be in the minority here, but I prefer white shorts in the home strip.

I noticed yesterday that it was ten years to the day that we played Llanelli at Airdrie and lost 1-0 in one of the most embarrassing results in our history. We did overturn it in Wales a week later mind you. That got me thinking back to Jim Gannon's time with us and it certainly was a strange six months. Early on there was a feeling of real optimism and excitement about this new 'out the box' boss and despite the Llanelli result we went on to have a decent wee Euro run which included an 8-1 win over Flamurtari at Airdrie before the Steua Bucharest tie. In the league we went unbeaten until late September but things went pear shaped after that disastrous 3-0 pumping at Love Street in the League Cup and then Gannon embarked on a ridiculous feud with the media, the referees and just about everyone else and we didn't win another match until after he'd left. In that time his team selections and tactics were mental and he used to sub performing players at half time every single week when we were winning, and as a result of his changes we went on to lose or draw. His final game against Saint Johnstone on Boxing Day 2009 was one of the worst performances I've ever seen from us and Peter MacDonald bagged a second half hat trick in the second half after we had led 1-0 at HT then Gannon made more unnecessary changes. He was bumped a few days later amid reports that he refused to sign a contract which according to some, he was never offered in the first place and there seemed to be much rejoicing from inside Fir Park when he got his jotters. Some of the stuff that emerged about him since he left us certainly suggests that we dodged a massive bullet by getting rid when we did and I personally was pleased to see him go as he appeared to be taking us only one way and that was down the way. The standouts from that strange short era were Yassin Moutouakil, his media fued and spat with Hugh Dallas, his obsessive substitutions, his dislike of Craigan and Lasley and his infamous juggling soot remark shortly before he left. A short period in our history, but one that lives long in the memory.

If you look at our young national squads success at qualifying for tournaments in the last 20 years, it's almost as unimpressive as the senior team. For as long as I've been watching football, there has been good young players in their teens, but we are terrible at developing them as much as other European countries seem able to do. There have been a few more good youngsters come through recently - often as a side effect of teams like ourselves, Hearts, Hibs, Dundee Utd etc. having financial contstraints - but if our history is anything to go by, most of them will have good, but not great careers. The last really successful young Scottish team I remember was the 1982 Andy Roxburgh side that won the U18 Euros back in the early 80s (John Philliben scored in that final, along with Pat Nevin and Gary Mackay). When was the last time Stirling Albion produced a youth international like Philliben? Or Clyde produce a Nevin? This isn't really news though. We all know the Scottish game needs an overhaul from top to bottom. We also know that nobody in power will ever do that while the short term interests of the OF and others are the prevailing mentality. As I said, I don't blame any youngster taking a particular career path. I just see it as a symptom of the underlying issues of our game - not as the cause. It won't stop me watching and enjoying my football across all the SPFL divisions - I just don't hold out much hope of seeing the improvements being made that could raise the overall quality.

I’m sure when Norwich signed Kenny McLean from Aberdeen they loaned him back to them for 6 months I think Turnbull has come on by leaps and bounds since he made his 1st team debut with us but he is still a work in progress As I have said on previous posts would his development be best served being coached by Neil Lennon and his staff or by the coaching staff at Norwich who nearly all came from Dortmund and learned their trade under Klopp. From the Norwich midfielders below who exactly is Turnbull going to replace ??? Vrancic German international U17 U19 U20, Bosnia full international Leitner German international U17 U19 U20 U21 Buendi Spanish international U19, Argentina international U20 Stiepermann German international U15 U16 U17 U18 U19 U20 Trybull German international U17 U18 U19 U20 McLean Scotland U19 U21, Scotland full international Hernandez German U18 Tettey Norway U18 U19 U21 Norway full international Thompson Wales U19 U21 Cantwell England U17

Yup that was him. There was about 10 mins to go when he did it and Ross County beat us 1-0.

And what issues are those? You're looking at this as purely a footballing issue, which is a mistake, as football is only a part of such a move. The truth is, a lot of players, for various reasons, are happy enough to sacrifice being paid an exorbitant amount of money in favour of being paid very fucking well to play football in their home country. Money isn't everything to many players. Also, often times it's not just the choice of the player. I know for a fact if I walked into my living room this evening and told my other half that she better start packing her stuff because we're moving to Yorkshire, Norfolk or Sunderland she'd laugh in my face and tell me to sort myself out. Her parents are nearby, her friends, her life. Even moreso if we were already living the kind of comfortable life that any player who sees interest from down south is living in Scotland. Some players have children in school, who have their friends and their family around them. Would I, in theory, be able to tell my parents that I'm taking their grandkids down south because making a couple of grand per week in Scotland isn't good enough when I could be making tens of thousands living and plying my trade in some town or city in England? I honestly don't know the answer to that. The simple fact is, every player is different, and those who turn down the riches and competition of down south to remain in their home country are no less ambitious or competitive than players who choose to move elsewhere. Wait, surely if we have Scottish players knocking back more money to play down south and staying up here, and English players coming up to play here it actually shows how well regarded our game is in comparison to the lower leagues down south, no? If our game was in "overall poor health" then wouldn't we have players leaving in droves?

If someone wanted to invest in the club and take 25% 30% investment that meant that the well society would still be in control ……… then yes But who in their right mind is going to do that !!!!

in fact anyone think the social media side of things in general has been very different this summer, not heard from Robinson at all, i quite like seeing all the interviews etc, keeps you ticking over the summer.

Needs its own thread and a poll... he should leave it up to the fans if it stays or not

Thought this was worth a share as I've not seen much chat about it. BBC World Service documentary posted at the start of may - Motherwell FC: We Own The Future. Worth a watch.