Vingt et un aujourd'hui

Bon Anniversaire Faiss!

Faissal El Bakhtaoui is twenty one today and to celebrate that he gave the website his first interview in English. Although he understood the language it has taken him some time to feel confident enough to converse in English and only this week has he made it clear that his first name is spelt with an 'i'.

"If we win tomorrow night then we will go out in the town to celebrate." Faissal explained a little of how he came to be in Scotland:-

"It was my agent who arranged it. Before I came here I was playing futsal for Cannes in the South of France. Now I can understand my team mates but find Alex Whittle the most difficult."

Faissal is best of pals with the Dunfermline based players, Josh Falkingham, Allan Smith, Callum Morris and Alex Whittle

Initially there were suggestions that Faissal who hails from Mileu dans Laxe near St Tropez would attend English lessons but that never happened. He still answers yes or no to a lot of questions however.

"To begin with I was staying in Edinburgh with Michal (Hrivnak) and Ivan (D'Angelo) but they spoke Italian. Now I stay with Callum (Morris) in Dunfermline.

"Edinburgh was good but I prefer Dunfermline better. It is friendlier."

Although Faissal has made four appearances in the first team they have all been off the bench. He would dearly love to make it to the starting eleven but after pulling a hamstring in Monday night's Under 20s match against Kilmarnock, he reckons that he will be out for at least the next two weeks.

"It is the first time that I have had this type of injury."