Scott Tanser (born 23 October 1994) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for club St Mirren. He made his senior debut for

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

in April 2013 and made a total of 57 league and cup appearances for the club before he was allowed to leave for

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

in January 2017. He joined Scottish Premiership club

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland which is a member of the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun ''aka'' Saint Johnstoun – an old ...

five months later. He won the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

with St Johnstone in the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season. He joined St Mirren in June 2021.

Career

Rochdale

Tanser spent time in the youth teams at

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

and

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

, before coming through the

Academy. He made his professional debut for the "Dale" after coming on as a 70th-minute substitute for

D'Arcy O'Connor D'Arcy Christopher O'Connor (born 21 December 1994) is an English footballer. He joined Hyde from Rochdale where his contract was terminated by mutual consent in July 2014. Career Born in Oldham, O'Connor began his career with Rochdale and made ...

in a 1–0 victory over

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

Spotland Stadium Spotland Stadium, known as the Crown Oil Arena for sponsorship reasons, in the Spotland area of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, is home to Rochdale A.F.C. and Rochdale Hornets R.F.L.C. and has a capacity of 10,249. History Spotland was origina ...

on 27 April 2013. This was his only appearance of the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season and he did not feature in the 2013–14 campaign as Rochdale secured

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out of

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

. He broke into the first team at the start of the 2014–15 season and signed a two-year

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...

extension in October 2014. Speaking the following month,

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Keith Hill said that Tanser was good enough to win England youth caps but that "politics in football, the bureaucracy and the propaganda" prevented lower league players from receiving a call-up. Tanser scored his first goal in senior football on 17 January 2015, opening the scoring with a "well-controlled, left-foot volley" as Rochdale recorded a 4–1 home victory over

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team co ...

; he was named on the Football League team of the week. He ended the season with 30

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

appearances to his name. He scored his second career goal on his first appearance of the 2015–16 season, as Rochdale beat

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

2–1 in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

on 6 October. He maintained a first-team place and played ten further games before falling out of the first-team picture completely; his appearance against

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

on 6 December proved to be his last of the season. He played just five league games in the first half of the 2016–17 campaign, and his contract was cancelled by mutual consent in January 2017 to allow him to find first-team football elsewhere.

Port Vale

Tanser signed a contract with League One rivals

on 27 January 2017 to run until the end of the 2016–17 season. Tanser said that the move "was a bit of a shock actually... one minute I am at Rochdale then the next minute I am signing for Port Vale. It is a bit mad really but that is the way that football is." He was released by manager Michael Brown following the club's

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

in May 2017.

St Johnstone

Tanser signed a one-year contract with

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

club

in June 2017. Speaking the following March he stated that "This is the best club I have been at and I have loved it this season... everyone is together here, there are no outcasts in our squad". He made 31 appearances for Tommy Wright's "Saints" during the 2017–18 season as St Johnstone posted an eighth-placed finish. In the summer he told '' The Courier'' that he was bulking up to gain greater strength and physicality, saying he was "on a special diet, total protein and six meals a day. So I'm going to be throwing chicken, beef and all sorts of stuff down my neck soon. It's just as well I'm not a vegetarian!" On 29 December 2018, Tanser scored his first goal for St Johnstone in their 2–0 win over Tayside rivals,

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

. He signed a new two-year contract extension at the club the following month. He ended the 2018–19 season with 45 appearances to his name, as well as three goals as he scored a

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

in the penultimate game against

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

. Speaking in September 2019, Wright said of Tanser that "he is quickly becoming a top class full-back and for me he can go on to become one of the top three or four in the country". Tanser featured in 27 matches of the 2019–20 season, which was curtailed early due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland The COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland is part of the COVID-19 pandemic of coronavirus disease-2019, caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2. The first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Scotland on 1 March 2020. Community transmission was first reported on ...

. He won the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

with St Johnstone in 2021, though was an unused substitute in

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

as they beat

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...

Hampden Park Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...

. St Johnstone went on to complete a cup double by lifting the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,a 1–0 victory over Hibernian, with Tanser again an unused substitute. However, he struggled with injuries towards the end of the

season and was linked with moves away from the club, despite manager

Callum Davidson Callum Iain Davidson (born 25 June 1976 in Stirling) is a Scottish professional football player and coach. He is the manager of St Johnstone. Davidson played as a left-back for St Johnstone, Blackburn Rovers, Leicester City and Preston North ...

being keen to keep hold of him. He was linked with a number of clubs in England's League One.

St Mirren

On 7 June 2021, Tanser signed a one-year contract with Scottish Premiership club St Mirren, with an option for a further year. He established himself as a popular player at

St Mirren Park St Mirren Park, also known as The SMISA Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Paisley, Scotland. It is the home of St Mirren. The stadium is the sixth home of the club and replaced Love Street. History Talks over a new s ...

for what the '' Daily Record'' called his "marauding runs down the left flank and his wicked deliveries into the box" and kept his first-team place after

Jim Goodwin James Michael Goodwin (born 20 November 1981) is an Irish football manager and former player who manages Scottish Premiership club Aberdeen. Goodwin had a playing career from 2000 to 2019 in Scotland and England, playing in a defensive role wi ...

's departure in February. He signed a two-year contract extension with the club in May 2022. Manager

Stephen Robinson Stephen Kern Robinson (born October 26, 1955) is an American former NASA astronaut. Education He was active in the Boy Scouts of America, where he achieved its second-highest rank, Life Scout. Robinson graduated from Campolindo High School, ...

commented that Tanser was "one of the best left-backs in this league". In October 2022, Tanser was involved in a car crash that left his wife injured; Robinson said that the accident "puts football into perspective". He featured 35 times across the

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

campaign. In October 2023, Tanser extended his contract with Saints until the summer of 2026. He said he was very happy after making his 100th club appearance in January. By March, he had made more crosses than any other player in the division that season, creating 28 chances and four assists. He was named in the Premiership Team of the Week after scoring in a 3–1 with at Dundee on 4 May. He ended the 2023–24 season with 42 appearances to his name.

Career statistics

Honours

St Johnstone *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanser, Scott 1994 births Living people English people of Scottish descent Footballers from Blackpool English men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Blackpool F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players St Johnstone F.C. players St Mirren F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players