Oakley is glad to leave his Balkan nightmare behind
Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire!
Just as the Covid-19 pandemic shut down football in Scotland, and threw the rest of the UK into uncertainty, George Oakley’s contract at Hamilton Accies was due to expire.
So the striker leapt at the chance to move to Bulgaria, where the disease had yet to manifest itself, and games were still being played.
However, the virus arrived there just after the 25-year-old did and, seven months after signing for Second Division outfit, Pirin Blagoevgrad, Oakley couldn’t wait to escape from the Balkans.
“I’ll be honest – it was very hard,” said the Londoner. “I don’t regret going out there and trying it. But, without going into too much detail, it was a difficult time for me.
“Everything was wrong, generally. I found it hard to settle in, and pretty much the minute I arrived there, I thought: ‘I’m not sure about this.’.
“But that’s football, isn’t it? I gave it a go and I didn’t like it.
“When I signed for them last June, the pandemic hadn’t reached Bulgaria, and there was so much uncertainty in the UK, finding another club was problematic.
“Pirin kept coming back and trying to persuade me to move, and eventually I decided to take that chance.
“That’s what you’ve got to do sometimes, and I was young enough to be able to do that.
“I soon learned, though, that I didn’t fit in and I didn’t like it. So I was delighted to come back after just six months there.”
With few English speakers at the club and a lockdown in place, Oakley found himself short of company.
“It was a very lonely period for me,” he admits.
“It was a great opportunity and I can put it down to experience. But not having family and friends around was hard.
“Put it this way. If anyone asked my advice about moving to Bulgaria, I’d tell them to have a long, hard think about it first.
“It’s a hard, hard place to go, especially if you are alone.
“I didn’t even have English-speaking channels on my TV there. But at least I had wifi, so I was on my ipad trying to watch stuff on that.
“Don’t get me wrong, there were a couple of lads there, who were quite friendly. But it wasn’t an easy place to get used to.
“I’d just bought a dog before I left, and had to leave it with my parents.
“I was also planning on buying a house, but it was such a confusing time in Britain back then and I didn’t know what was going on.
“So I decided to leave – but I’m very glad to be back.”
Oakley made his Killie debut at Livingston in midweek, and will be in the frame for Celtic’s visit to Rugby Park on Tuesday night.