Tashan Oakley-Boothe admits he relished his Dunfermline reunion with Victor Wanyama last season – but has revealed the one thing he was not looking forward to.
The pair were previously at Tottenham Hotspur at the same time and were brought back together when Wanyama joined the Pars in the wake of Neil Lennon’s arrival as manager in March.
Oakley-Boothe had himself only just arrived at East End Park a few weeks earlier and was pleased to see his former mentor following him to Fife.
The 25-year-old was coming through as a youth at Spurs when Wanyama was in the first-team but there was a connection between the duo – at times too literally.
“I was with him quite a lot when I was young, for almost two years,” explained Oakley-Boothe. “We were quite close, to be fair.
“But he was a nightmare for me when I was younger. He just used to step on my toes!
“When I used to go up to [train with] the first-team, I didn’t want to go anywhere near him.
“I warned everybody here before he came. I said, ‘watch your toes in training’!
“But he’s not like that anymore, now he’s good.”
Oakley-Boothe: ‘It’s important to learn’
Wanyama, a Champions League runner-up with Spurs and a 64-times capped Kenya internationalist, has indicated he would be open to returning to Dunfermline this summer.
“You can’t pay for experience,” added Oakley-Boothe. “It’s people that have been there and done that.
“Especially for the younger players, I think it’s important to learn from the experienced ones. Because, like I said, they’ve been there and done that. They’ve worn the shirt.
“That’s one of the main things, in terms of if Victor was to come back or whatever. It’s important for everybody around to learn from someone like that.”
Oakley-Boothe penned a 12-month contract extension earlier this month and is determined to prove himself after an injury-affected ten weeks with Dunfermline last term.
And he knows from bitter experience from an ill-fated move to Estrela da Amadora in the Portuguese Primeira Liga how much game-time will be important to him in the coming campaign.
“Portugal was very difficult,” he added. “Language was one thing. And I’d just say maybe the club itself has its own way of going about things.
“As a player, the first thing you need to be doing is playing. So, when you’re not playing at a club, it’s obviously going to affect you.
“Because that’s what you’re based on. As a player you’re based on playing. Especially at this age as well.
“I’m no longer 17, so it’s not like potential. It’s like, has he played? So that’s what it’s about, it’s about games.”
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