He started his playing career at Wrexham before moving to rivals Chester in January 1968 in part-exchange for Ian Moir.
He ended his playing career in 1983, and left Shrewsbury after six seasons to take charge of Aston Villa in the summer of 1984.
He was then appointed manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers, a club then in the Fourth Division and massively in financial trouble (barely out of debt), on 7 October 1986.
There had been speculation about his future as manager more than two years earlier after a dismal start to the 1991–92 season, but a turnaround in form preserved his job for a while.
[5] With the bank balance firmly in the red he had to endure several fruitless seasons in the Conference and had to sell key players to keep the club in business.
After a humiliating defeat to Hayes, Turner handed first team duties over to player-coach Phil Robinson while he concentrated on securing the club's financial future.
2002–03 proved the turning point with Turner taking the opportunity to build an entirely new squad, retaining only six players from the previous season.
The team, built entirely of free transfers, evolved into arguably the best footballing side in the Conference, finishing second in a record-breaking 2003–04 season.
Having finally gained the promotion he had come close to in 1995–96, Turner again used the loan system in League One, purchasing only one player for an undisclosed fee.
Turner remained chairman, director of football and majority shareholder of Hereford United until the end of the 2009–10 season.
[7] In his near 14 season spell at Hereford he purchased just three players: Neil Grayson (£20,000 in 1997), Ben Smith (£20,000 in 2007) and Matt Done (undisclosed in 2008) although Toumani Diagouraga arrived on a permanent transfer as part of the sale of Lionel Ainsworth to Watford.
On 8 March 2010 Hereford United announced that they had sacked John Trewick with Turner taking the reins on a temporary basis.
The club set a record number of points and for the second time in Turner's career he led Shrewsbury Town unbeaten at home throughout a whole season 33 years after the first achievement.