Victor Wanyama lasts 19 minutes as Tottenham cult hero endures nightmare debut on Scottish return
03/29/2025 02:56 PM
Former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Victor Wanyama was sent off just 19 minutes into his debut for Scottish club Dunfermline Athletic.
Wanyama came off the bench in the 64th minute as his side were down 2-0 to Ayr in the Scottish Championship, the country's second division.
But his first match became a disaster, with referee Iain Snedden reaching into his pocket for a red card and sending him off less than 20 minutes later due to a handball.
Ethan Walker later added a third Ayr goal to rub salt into the wounds of Dunfermline.
Wanyama wasn’t the only one to have a bad day, it was also the worst possible start for newly-appointed manager Neil Lennon.
Fans of the Championship side were hoping to arrival of the five-time Scottish Premiership winning ex-Celtic manager would be the beginning of something great.
But the 3-0 defeat in his first game in charge sees Dunfermline sit ninth place in a league with only ten teams.
The currently sit in a relegation play-off spot but are only two points from safety.
On Wednesday, Wanyama reunited with his old Celtic manager Lennon, with both signing deals until the end of the season.
To add to the embarrassment of their double debut, Ayr’s head coach is non other than Scott Brown – Wanyama’s former captain and leader of Lennon’s title-winning team.
Bizarrely, all three men also share the same birthday – June 25.
Following his time at Celtic, Kenya international Wanyama moved to the Premier League with Southampton and then signed for Tottenham Hotspur in an £11million deal.
He appeared for the north London Club 97 times in nearly three full seasons, including a 2019/20 Champions League final loss to Liverpool.
In 2020 he moved to Major League Soccer to play for CF Montreal until his contract at the Canadian club expired in January.
Prior to Saturday's match, the 33-year-old said: "I’m a midfielder, so was the gaffer and I played with Scott Brown.
"Me and the gaffer playing against him, it’s just a fairy tale. So, I’m looking forward to it.
"My intention now is to try and help the club, to help them stay in the league. And then after that, we can sit down and discuss again."
But with five matches remaining this season, it will take a considerable change of form to prevent relegation to the Scottish League One – a league they were promoted from in 2023 after winning the title.
