Stoke City old boy desperate to kickstart career after landing new club seven years after World Cup win
Stoke City hoped they had unearthed a gem when they plucked Tashan Oakley-Boothe from Tottenham Hotspur’s youth set-up
Tashan Oakley-Boothe is hoping to kickstart his career after signing a deal at Dunfermline until the end of the season.
The midfielder, now aged 25, was in the England squad that won the under-17s World Cup back in 2017 as he came through the ranks at Tottenham. But he wasn’t able to make the step up to senior level after joining Stoke City in January 2020, making seven league and cup starts and 14 sub appearances over the next couple of years. It wasn’t helped that he was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his lower back.
Spells have followed at Lincoln City and Blackpool before a three-and-a-half year deal in Portugal with Estrela was cut short. Now he has landed in the Scottish Championship, making his Pars debut in a draw with Livingston at the weekend. He hopes he has find the right manager in new boss Michael Tidser to find form, help the team pull away from the relegation spots in a congested table and start to fulfil his potential.
“The World Cup’s still an experience I hold close to my chest but it’s seven years ago and I’m just looking forward to now, really,” he told the Scottish Sun. “I’ve been at a couple of clubs over the last few years, and I was in Portugal for a little bit. It was a different experience, very tough in terms of the language barrier.
“But it’s still another experience for me to learn from. I didn’t play as much as I would have liked, but that can happen. Portugal is maybe a bit more technical, but that’s not to fault the game here. It’s still good football. I’d say it’s nothing I haven’t experienced playing in League One or the Championship, it’s pretty similar.
“It’s a good bunch of boys here, and a good environment. The club has a lot of history. “Going into a club, one of the main things is how the manager would want to play, and how it would suit you as a player.
“I’ve heard a bit about the project and how he would like to play, and yeah, it does suit me. The fan base also looks amazing. As a player, you want that for the club and yourself when you’re playing because the supporters give you that extra push. I’m a ball-carrying central midfield player, I like to try to make things happen on the ball with energy and creativity.”
