Simmo Backs His Captain Turnbull

County boss Paul Simpson has praised current Hatters captain and midfielder Paul Turnbull amid what Simpson calls ‘dissenting voices’ against the 21-year-old.

Turnbull has been an ever-present for Simpson this season, and took over the armband after ex-MK Dons man Danny Swailes was ruled out for six months with a cruciate knee injury.

And after a shaky start for the Stockport-born lad, and after criticism from the Edgeley Park faithful (including ourselves on this site), Turnbull produced a number of outstanding performances and was key as County went 5 unbeaten in September.

But as results have started going against us again, Turnbull has again started to become the scapegoat in some quarters, even though he is widely acknowledged as an important asset by most fans now (including ourselves!)

And former Shrewsbury Town boss Simpson was in no mood to listen to any criticism of his skipper today.

“You’ve got to remember, the lad’s 21. I remember Michael Raynes playing at Stockport and becoming captain after taking some stick, and he’s only 22 now almost a year later. But there were always reports going around and circulating around other teams about Raynes and obviously Scunthorpe were suitably impressed, amongst many others. He obviously had the ability, and I believe the same with Paul, these are young lads who just love playing for their local team.”

“There’s been a few dissenting voices regarding Paul Turnbull over recent weeks but I think he does a job for the team that nobody appreciates except myself and the other players.”

“You ask the back four about the job Bully does for them and they’ll tell you in a breath how important he is.”

Turnbull, nicknamed ‘Pitbull’ at EP, will reach 100 games for the club this Saturday at Bury.

“He gets into good positions, is very reliable and he’s been very steady for us this season.”

“It’s credit to him he’ll reach 100 games at such a young age. You see players taking years to reach 100 games for a club, it is rare these days. Paul’s a credit to us and to himself.”