(Photo: Action Images)
By Alex Narey
Jamie Vardy may fly the modern-day flag for a Non-League player rising to the top of the footballing ranks, but Nick Tanner knows all about hitting the big time… the former Mangotsfield United defender played in the last Liverpool team to win the First Division 27 years ago.
Tanner, left, would make a total of 59 appearances for Liverpool after signing for the Reds in 1988 for £20,000, playing first under Kenny Dalglish before Graeme Souness’ arrival at the club in 1991.
But his path began when he was mucking it out in the Western League, and he remains adamant it was the footballing lessons he picked up in the lower ranks that gave him the edge to take his game onto the hallowed turf of Anfield.
He has documented his tale with a superb new book, titled From a Field to Anfield – tracing his earliest steps in Non-League before being snapped up by Bobby Gould at Bristol Rovers. The story charts his move to the Merseyside giants where he would share a changing room with legendary figures like Ian Rush, John Barnes and Alan Hansen.
But for all the superstars he rubbed shoulders with, Tanner is quick to hail the grafters from the lower leagues…
“There were some tough, hard players when I was playing in the Western League,” says Tanner.
“As I was a bit younger, I was playing with men… proper men. You really did learn quickly. There was no other way.
“People think I am crazy to say this, but the football, for me, gets easier the higher you go. Honestly, I think if you are playing in a great team with great players, you just get by.
“I’m not saying it’s easy because it’s not. But you could watch a Premier League team today, and if you didn’t know any of the players, you wouldn’t be able to tell who the Non-League lad was.
“If you have a bit of football talent, you can make it. That’s the message I want to drum in to players.”
Tanner says the hard knocks of Non-League football means players are ready when their chance comes to play higher up the ladder. He singles out the lack of reserve team football as a key factor in managers choosing to look in the lower leagues for their next signing, and says players just aren’t ready to play when they are called upon because the academy system is not teaching them “match awareness”.
“Playing football professionally, at the highest level, I don’t think it carries the same level of achievement that it did 30 years ago,” Tanner adds.
“For starters, you don’t have to play; you don’t have to put yourself out there to get better and to keep earning a living from the game.
“You could be earning £5,000 a week and you don’t have to slug it out in the reserves; you don’t have to win the battles and try to win the manager over. That’s quite sad.”
‘From a Field to Anfield – a footballer’s journey from grassroots to the top flight’ is on sale now, published by Pitch Publishing. You can buy the book here.
