We’ve Got *Clap Clap* Ollie Turton

Everyone loves a good singsong so I’m going to start this article off with a, albeit slightly edited, 1964 classic by The Dave Clark Five:

You say that you love me (say you love me)
All of the time (all of the time)
You say that you need me (say you need me)
You’ll always be mine (always be mine)

Cos’ we’ve got *clap clap* Ollie Turton
We’ve got *clap clap* Ollie Turton
We’ve got *clap clap* Ollie Turton
So glad you’re mine.

(Repeat as many times as possible from when the equaliser is scored to the final whistle, then continue after the match.

Getting into the article, as you may have guessed, I will be talking about ‘Mr. Consistency’ Oliver Turton. Turts, as he is more commonly known, made his debut for The Railwaymen back in the 2010/11 season – the game was at Gresty Road between Crewe Alexandra and Stockport County, the result transpired to be a 2-0 victory for The Alex. Since that maiden appearance, the defender from Manchester has accumulated a total of 176 appearances (and counting). However, he has truly announced himself as a first team player under Steve Davis during the last 2/3 seasons. Initially he first appeared as a central midfielder but since then he has adapted to a steady and consistent right back, I emphasise the word consistent as that’s what won him the supporters hearts and the chant. Before being unable to play, I think last season, Turton had played 80+ consecutive senior games – a great achievement at any club. To gain a record like that you must be good, consistent, reliable and a hard trainer; all of which Oliver Turton is.

Last time out, The Alex came from 2 goals behind to claim a point away at Blackpool. In that match Turts was rewarded for his efforts by claiming, in his words, the most meaningful goal of his career. He told the Crewe Chronicle, source for quotes:

“It was brilliant, it was the first goal I`ve got which was an equaliser.’

“The other goals I`ve scored have been when we are already well behind, or didn`t have the same impact, so it was good to score, especially in front of our fans. The fans were class – it was a good feeling.’

As well as claiming the all-important equaliser, Turton put in a great shift both going forward and defensively – as he always does. I believe that was recognised by the near 700 supporters that had travelled, they proudly let the whole of Blackpool (possibly most of Lancashire) know that ‘we’ve got Ollie Turton’ and that we’re ‘so glad you’re (he’s) mine (ours)’. Hopefully he will be ours for much longer to come. He has only ever played for The Alex and is a product of the famed academy, I will be quite happy if it remains that way and Turton stays loyal to The Alex. Loyalty is something not often seen in modern football, so it’s brilliant we have some in our number 2.

I hope now we can achieve what Turton has in abundance – consistency. At least a bit of it. We could achieve it by remaining solid, compact and by playing good football as we have done recently under Dave Artell. Another vital person in achieving this is Kenny Lunt, who has looked a very knowledgeable and passionate assistant manager – on Twitter a Crewe Alex news page showed this view as well by tweeting:

‘Just something I’d like to point out is how good Kenny Lunt is as assistant, always telling people where to go and arranging them’

It is that arranging that will help gain some much wanted consistency. If that doesn’t help, we have to work with what we’ve got. And remember…

‘We’ve got Ollie Turton’.