 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Scott Tanser[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1994-10-23)23 October 1994 (age 31)[2] | ||
| Place of birth | Blackpool, England[2] | ||
| Height | 1.82 m (5 ft11+1⁄2 in)[2] | ||
| Position | Left-back | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | St Mirren | ||
| Number | 3 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Blackpool | |||
| Burnley | |||
| Rochdale | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2013–2017 | Rochdale | 43 | (1) |
| 2017 | Port Vale | 11 | (0) |
| 2017–2021 | St Johnstone | 117 | (5) |
| 2021– | St Mirren | 137 | (5) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 29 December 2025 | |||
Scott Tanser (born 23 October 1994) is an English professionalfootballer who plays as aleft-back forScottish Premiership clubSt Mirren.
Tanser made his senior debut forRochdale in April 2013 and made a total of 57 league and cup appearances for the club before he was allowed to leave forPort Vale in January 2017. He joined Scottish Premiership clubSt Johnstone five months later. He won theScottish Cup andScottish League Cup with St Johnstone in the2020–21 season. He joined St Mirren in June 2021. He won the Scottish League Cup again in the 2025–26 campaign.
Tanser spent time in the youth teams atBlackpool andBurnley, before coming through theRochdale Academy.[3] He made his professional debut for the "Dale" after coming on as a 70th-minutesubstitute forD'Arcy O'Connor in a 1–0 victory overPlymouth Argyle atSpotland Stadium on 27 April 2013.[4] This was his only appearance of the2012–13 season and he did not feature in the2013–14 campaign as Rochdale securedpromotion out ofLeague Two. He broke into the first team at the start of the2014–15 season and signed a two-yearcontract extension in October 2014.[5] Speaking the following month,managerKeith 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.[6] Tanser scored his first goal in senior football on 17 January 2015, opening the scoring with a "well-controlled, left-footvolley" as Rochdale recorded a 4–1 home victory overCrawley Town; he was named on the Football League team of the week.[7][8] He ended the season with 30League One appearances to his name.
He scored his second career goal on his first appearance of the2015–16 season, as Rochdale beatChesterfield 2–1 in theFootball League Trophy on 6 October.[9] He maintained a first-team place and played ten further games before falling out of the first-team picture completely; his appearance againstBury on 6 December proved to be his last of the season. He played just five league games in the first half of the2016–17 campaign, and his contract was cancelled by mutual consent in January 2017 to allow him to find first-team football elsewhere.[10]
Tanser signed a contract with League One rivalsPort Vale on 27 January 2017 to run until the end of the2016–17 season.[11] 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."[12] He was released by managerMichael Brown following the club'srelegation in May 2017.[13]
Tanser signed a one-year contract withScottish Premiership clubSt Johnstone in June 2017.[14] 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".[15] He made 31 appearances forTommy Wright's "Saints" during the2017–18 season as St Johnstone posted an eighth-placed finish. In the summer he toldThe 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!"[16]
On 29 December 2018, Tanser scored his first goal for St Johnstone in their 2–0 win overTayside rivals,Dundee.[17] He signed a new two-year contract extension at the club the following month.[18] He ended the2018–19 season with 45 appearances to his name, as well as three goals as he scored apenalty in the penultimate game againstMotherwell.[19] 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".[20] Tanser featured in 27 matches of the2019–20 season, which was curtailed early due to theCOVID-19 pandemic in Scotland.[21]
He won theScottish League Cup with St Johnstone in 2021, though was an unused substitute inthe final as they beatLivingston atHampden Park.[22] St Johnstone went on to complete a cup double by lifting theScottish Cup witha 1–0 victory overHibernian, with Tanser again an unused substitute.[23] However, he struggled with injuries towards the end of the2020–21 season and was linked with moves away from the club, despite managerCallum Davidson being keen to keep hold of him.[24][25] He was linked with a number of clubs in England's League One.[26]
On 7 June 2021, Tanser signed a one-year contract with Scottish Premiership clubSt Mirren, with an option for a further year.[27] He established himself as a popular player atSt Mirren Park for what theDaily Record called his "marauding runs down the left flank and his wicked deliveries into the box" and kept his first-team place afterJim Goodwin's departure in February.[28] He signed a two-year contract extension with the club in May 2022.[29] ManagerStephen Robinson commented that Tanser was "one of the best left-backs in this league".[30] In October 2022, Tanser was involved in a car crash that left his wife injured; Robinson said that the accident "puts football into perspective".[31][32] He featured 35 times across the2022–23 campaign.[33]
In October 2023, Tanser extended his contract with Saints until the summer of 2026.[34] He said he was very happy after making his 100th club appearance in January.[35] By March, he had made more crosses than any other player in the division that season, creating 28 chances and four assists.[36] He was named in the Premiership Team of the Week after scoring in a 3–1 with at Dundee on 4 May.[37] He ended the2023–24 season with 42 appearances to his name.[38] He featured 32 times in the2024–25 campaign, being sent off twice in games againstMotherwell andRoss County.[39] The St Mirren website described his sending off at Motherwell as "an incredibly harsh decision".[40]
Tanser achieved his second Scottish League Cup winner's medal, appearing as a substitute in a 3–1 win overCeltic in the2025 Scottish League Cup final.[41]
| Club | Season | League | National Cup | League Cup | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Rochdale | 2012–13[42] | League Two | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2013–14[43] | League Two | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2014–15[44] | League One | 30 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1[a] | 0 | 36 | 1 | |
| 2015–16[45] | League One | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2[a] | 1 | 11 | 1 | |
| 2016–17[46] | League One | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3[b] | 0 | 9 | 0 | |
| Total | 43 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 57 | 2 | ||
| Port Vale | 2016–17[46] | League One | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 |
| St Johnstone | 2017–18[47] | Scottish Premiership | 29 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1[c] | 0 | 31 | 0 |
| 2018–19[48] | Scottish Premiership | 37 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 3 | |
| 2019–20[49] | Scottish Premiership | 21 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 2 | |
| 2020–21[50] | Scottish Premiership | 30 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 2 | |
| Total | 117 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 139 | 7 | ||
| St Mirren | 2021–22[51] | Scottish Premiership | 31 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 2 |
| 2022–23[33] | Scottish Premiership | 30 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 0 | |
| 2023–24[38] | Scottish Premiership | 35 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 3 | |
| 2024–25[39] | Scottish Premiership | 30 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1[d] | 0 | 32 | 1 | |
| 2025–26[52] | Scottish Premiership | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 126 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 147 | 6 | ||
| Career total | 297 | 11 | 22 | 0 | 27 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 364 | 15 | ||
St Johnstone
St Mirren