Ross Turnbull
From TheChels.info - The Chelsea Football Club Wiki
| Ross Turnbull | |
| |
| Full Name | Ross Turnbull |
| Date of Birth | 4 January 1985 |
| Place of Birth | Bishop Auckland, England |
| Position | Goalkeeper |
| Chelsea career | 2009 - 2013 |
| Debut | 28 October 2009 |
| Games (goals) | 19 (0) |
| Other clubs | Middlesbrough Darlington (loan) Barnsley (loan) Bradford City (loan) Crewe Alexandra (loan) Cardiff City Doncaster Rovers |
Ross Turnbull (born 4 January 1985 in Bishop Auckland, England) is an English goalkeeper who played for Chelsea from 2009-13, having signed on a free transfer from Middlesbrough.
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Before Chelsea
Turnbull played as a midfielder for his hometown team Newton Aycliffe Youth Centre A.F.C. but was turned into a goalkeeper by coach Arthur Vickerstaff. He had trials with North-East sides Darlington and Sunderland but instead joined Middlesbrough's Academy.
After coming through the club's youth ranks, Turnbull signed a professional contract with Middlesbrough in 2002. After several loan spells at clubs in the north of England, Turnbull signed a season-long loan deal at Football League Championship side Cardiff City in July 2007. Beginning the season as first choice goalkeeper for the club, he was replaced for the 2-2 draw with Preston North End by Michael Oakes following a series of errors, and spent the remainder of his loan spell on the bench before he was recalled by Middlesbrough on 5 October 2007 following an injury to second choice keeper Brad Jones. After being recalled, Turnbull played in two of Middlesbrough's games in the absence of first choice goalkeeper (and future Chelsea player) Mark Schwarzer, who had broken his thumb in training. After more than 11 years with Middlesbrough, Schwarzer left the club during the summer of 2008 to join Fulham, with Turnbull and Jones left to fight it out for the number one position. Although Jones played the first game of the season, Turnbull was in goal for Middlesbrough's 2-1 defeat at Liverpool the following week, when Jones injured himself in the warm-up. In June 2009 Turnbull rejected a contract offer from Middlesbrough, and informed the club that he would leave when it expired at the end of the month.
Chelsea career
On 2 July 2009, Turnbull joined Chelsea on a free transfer, signing a four-year contract. Turnbull announced that he would not sit by as a permanent second place keeper to regular starting goalkeeper Petr Čech and that he would fight for his own first team place. His first involvement in the first team was after being named on the bench for Chelsea's first game of the 2009-10 season against Hull City at Stamford Bridge, which finished 2-1 to Chelsea. Turnbull then had a Chelsea reserves debut to forget when he made a series of blunders as the team lost 4-0 to Aston Villa. He made his first team debut against Bolton Wanderers in the League Cup, coming on for the injured Henrique Hilário after 23 minutes, a game which Chelsea won 4-0. He made his first start in the UEFA Champions League 2-2 draw against APOEL. He made his Premier League debut against West Ham United as Petr Čech and Henrique Hilário were both injured. The following Tuesday, he started for Chelsea against Inter Milan at Stamford Bridge, in which he conceded a goal with Inter winning 1-0 but otherwise had a decent performance.
He made his first appearance in the 2010-11 season in the League Cup third round loss at home to Newcastle United, and in November appeared in a 2-1 win against MŠK Žilina in the Champions League group stage. That would prove to be his final first team appearance of the season, with Petr Čech playing in every subsequent match. He made five appearances during the 2011-12 season, including all three of Chelsea's League Cup matches; one of which as a half time substitute before helping Chelsea to a penalty shoot-out win against Fulham, and another in which he was sent-off while giving away a (subsequently missed) penalty before Chelsea progressed in extra time against Everton. His two league appearances came in the last two matches of the Premier League season, as Roberto Di Matteo rested Petr Čech ahead of the UEFA Champions League Final. Turnbull won winner's medals in both that competition and the FA Cup as an unused substitute, the first major honours of his career.
The 2012-13 campaign saw him appear in more Premier League matches than at any other point of his Chelsea career. He was forced into action away to Everton when Čech suffered an injury, and played in the following league match, a home defeat to Queens Park Rangers. He also kept goal away to Reading at the end of January, and featured in two League Cup outings as well as one FA Cup for a total of seven appearances overall. In June 2013 it was announced that he was to leave Chelsea upon the expiration of his contract.
After Chelsea
After leaving Chelsea Turnbull signed for Championship side Doncaster Rovers on a one-year contract in July 2013, where he became first choice.
International
Turnbull represented England U-20 in the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship.
Statistics
| Season | Prem | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |
| 2009-10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 2010-11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2011-12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 2012-13 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| Total | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 0 |
Statistics correct as of 1 June 2013
Career honours
- Chelsea
