Club: Tottenham Debut: 15 August 1992 Premier League appearances: 20 Goals: 3
Former winger Turner became the Premier League’s youngest goalscorer at 17 years and 166 days – striking a late winner for Tottenham against Everton on 5 September 1992, less than a month into the new competition’s first season. His record stood for nearly five years before being broken by Michael Owen at Liverpool.
Having been given his debut in 1992 – when Terry Venables, Doug Livermore and Ray Clemence were in charge of the team – Turner fell out of favour under Ossie Ardiles before a serious ankle injury sent him on a nomadic career with numerous loan spells in the Football League.
“Everytime someone young scores a goal, people mention it to me,” Turner, who is now head of development at Hednesford Town, tells Sport. “It is quite nice to reminisce and to know exactly how people in this scenario are feeling.
“When I saw Rio Ngumoha score, his story reminded me of my own. He played well in pre-season and took his chance and I was similar, then being given an opportunity in the first team. He came off the bench and scored in the last minute like me.
“Young players need to be good enough and these guys are special talents. In my season at Spurs when I played, I was managed very well. I was told when I was going to be involved, my parents were kept updated and there was a plan.
“The evening before I made my debut, Mr Venables rang my dad and said make sure I don’t go out and go to sleep early because I was going to play on Saturday. He was a fantastic man and when I had problems he would invite me to his office and make me a cup of tea.
“We lost 6-2 at Liverpool towards the end of that season but I wasn’t involved in the game and he took me to the centre circle and said: ‘It’s good here, isn’t it?’ He told me to see him on Monday for a new long-term contract. By that morning, he was sacked.”
