Fankaty Dabo has revealed he already sees similarities between the Raith Rovers support and the fans at Coventry City who helped him through some of his darkest days in football.
The defender moved north to Stark’s Park last week and made an instant debut in the 1-0 victory that ended Falkirk’s incredible 43-game unbeaten run on Saturday.
It was a better start to life with Rovers than the 28-year-old endured with Coventry in 2019, when he was red-carded and scored an own goal double within his first four league games.
However, the former Chelsea trainee’s sparkling form as Coventry went on to win the League One title that season helped win round any doubters.
And when full-back missed the play-off final penalty that denied the Sky Blues the chance of promotion to the Premier League last year, the City faithful rallied round with support to drown out the racist abuse directed his way.
Dabo hit the headlines again when his next move to Forest Green Rovers turned sour amidst public criticism from then manager Troy Deeney. The Coventry fans again came out in force.
He may only have been north of the border for less than a fortnight, but the new boy is already feeling the same kind of love from the Raith fans.
“I can’t commend the Coventry fans enough or the club or my family. The support I got was crazy,” Dabo told Courier Sport reflecting on the racism he suffered after his Wembley low.
“Setting that aside, the penalty miss is a miss, isn’t it? I always say that bigger players have missed in bigger games.
Dabo: ‘The best thing’
“It’s become just a story and it’s easy to pick at it, because after that I left the club.
“Every so often when I check social media there’s just so many nice messages from [the Coventry fans] still.
“And I got so many from the Raith supporters as well when I signed.
“It’s just nice to have a fanbase that is so connected – and even when it’s going bad they’re still behind you.
“That’s the best thing about what I’ve seen so far here at Raith – and what it was like down at Coventry.”
Dabo accepts he has never quite since hit the heights he reached with Coventry in 2019/20, when he won the club’s player of the year and made it into the League One team of the season.
After a tough time with Forest Green last term, he is determined to prove to himself, as much as to anyone, that he can recapture his best form.
“I know I’m good at football,” he adds modestly with a smile. “Sometimes I do things and think, ‘oh, you actually are good at football’.
“There were glimpses of what I could do in the Championship.
“But hopefully there will be a lot more than glimpses at Raith and I can just perform at a level that is needed.
“Not just by the club, but for me personally to prove myself right – rather than prove people wrong.”
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