DUNFERMLINE Athletic’s run of form has been so lamentable of late that new manager Neil Lennon could probably spark a distinct upturn in fortunes if he pitched Victor Meldrew in at holding midfielder just in front of his centre-backs Kyle Benidictus and Jeremiah Chilokoa-Mullen.
So landing Victor Wanyama this week - an “I don’t believe it!” signing if ever there was one - is sure to help the East End Park club in their bid to avoid relegation from the William Hill Championship even though the former Celtic, Southampton and Spurs man is the grand old age of 33 now and nearing the end of his playing days.
The William Hill Championship strugglers, who have won just one of their last eight competitive matches and who have failed to net in no fewer than seven of those outings, take on third-placed Ayr United at Somerset Park this afternoon and then second-placed Livingston at home on Wednesday evening.
It will, then, be hard for Lennon, even with his old mucker Wanyama now on board, to make an immediate impact and pick up results which help to steer Dunfermline towards second tier safety in the coming days.
But the presence of such a famous footballer – the guy who scored in that historic Champions League win over Barcelona and who broke the Scottish transfer record back in 2013 when he was sold for £12.5m – in the “Auld Grey Toon” will certainly lift the spirits of squad members and supporters alike at what is a tough time.
Read more:
-
Canada talisman Alistair Johnston on how Jesse Marsch power play can aid Celtic cause
-
Ageing Scotland side is no joke - this Dad's Army will struggle to reach World Cup
-
Olympiacos ultras leading Greek football's fight against pyro after flare fatality
As one longsuffering, disbelieving, ecstatic, overexcitable Pars fan remarked on social media in the hours following the bombshell announcement “there has never been a bigger signing than this in Scottish football in my lifetime”. That bold statement very much lit, to use a beloved tabloid phrase, a blue touchpaper.
The Kenyan is, it was quickly pointed out, far from the first household name to arrive in an unlikely outpost of the beautiful game. Not only that, he is by no means the biggest star to materialise in an improbable location in this country. In fact, the list of fading icons to rock up here for, a la “football mercenary” Jon Stark, a bumper pay day from a short-term stay before they retire is lengthy.
If that Dunfermline diehard was to travel over the Forth Road Bridge into Edinburgh and tell any Hibernian supporter he bumped into that this piece of transfer business trumped any other acquisition which has been made here he would get pretty short shrift.
Hibbees of an older generation will still be able to remember when George Best, who some argue was, in his all-too-brief prime, the greatest player the world has ever seen, briefly plied his trade down Leith way during the 1979/80 campaign.
If Dumbarton had succeeded in their audacious bid to land Dutch great Johan Cruyff – manager Sean Fallon travelled to Amsterdam for talks with El Salvador and then memorably told reporters” I have spoken to the boy” upon his return – the following season it would have topped that coup.
But there have been numerous ageing ‘ballers who have to come to Scotland. Joe Hart, Robbie Keane, Roy Keane, Freddie Ljungberg, Kasper Schmeichel, Kolo Toure and Ian Wright (all Celtic), Claudio Caniggia and Fabrizio Ravanelli (both Dundee), Chris Waddle (Falkirk), Steve Archibald (Hibernian and St Mirren), Joey Barton, James Beattie, Caniggia again, Jermain Defoe, Francis Jeffers, Niko Kranjcar and Philippe Senderos (all Rangers), Jody Morris (St Johnstone) and Eric Djemba-Djemba (St Mirren) all, to name just a handful, caused a flurry of excitement.
Some, like Archibald, Caniggia, Defoe, Hart, both Keanes, Morris, Schmeichel and Sauzee, more than justified the outlay which it took to secure their services and are remembered fondly to this day. But many others, Barton, Beattie, Djemba-Djemba, Jeffers, Kranjcar, Ljungberg, Senderos and Toure, looked as if they were just cashing in on their reputation and failed to deliver.
Read more:
-
Celtic engages safety consultants as supporters raise concerns over police handling
-
Aberdeen boss provides injury update, assesses chances of goalkeeper making Hampden
-
Rangers challenge looms as Josh Mulligan urges Dundee to keep build on derby momentum
It doesn’t show Scottish football in a particularly good light when they disappoint. In fact, it can leave the game in this country open to ridicule, to unfair accusations it is a sporting backwater, from down south. On occasion, the presence of a well-known individual whose best days are clearly far behind him can be akin to a travelling circus freak show.
The signing of Wanyama is the most exciting thing to happen in Dunfermline since Robert the Bruce was laid to rest there in 1329.
Victor Wanyama has to be far more Franck Sauzee than Philippe Senderos for the good of Dunfermline, Neil Lennon and Scottish football as a whole.
