OLLIE TANNER used to play alongside Arsenal star Bukayo Saka but ended up in non-league before being snapped up by Cardiff.
And now the 22-year-old winger is hoping to repay the Bluebirds’ faith by helping them avoid relegation into League One.
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Cardiff travel to QPR this afternoon sitting third from bottom after Derby beat Preston on Wednesday night to dump the Welsh side into the drop zone.
Tanner is enjoying his second full season playing Championship football. And he is in no mood to fall back down a division.
He said: “We shouldn’t be in this position but we must get ourselves out of it. Cardiff should be a club challenging for promotion to the Premier League where it belongs — not fighting relegation.
“Some games this season, we’ve been unlucky. But other times we’ve not been good enough.
“Conceding poor goals has been a problem a lot of the time and it’s our own doing.
“We work so hard to create and score goals then concede easy ones.
“It’s the most frustrating thing. We are where we are and we must correct that, stop letting them in and score more. It’s the basics.”
Tanner is mentally tough for the fight ahead.
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He experienced the glamour of being at Arsenal and the hard yards of slugging it out in non-league with the likes of Bromley, Folkestone and Lewes.
The winger played alongside Saka in the Gunners’ youth team during his six years with the North Londoners.
He said: “Saka was unbelievable — right from the first game I played with him.
“He was always the one that was going to the top. It was a great education at Arsenal but being released by them wasn’t easy.
“I ended up in non-league and that taught me a lot. It’s so easy to lose your way.
“You either sink or swim. Thankfully, I swam.
“I found a club in Lewes, who were playing in the Isthmian Premier, and a manager in Tony Russell and his assistant Joe Vines who helped me massively.
“They are a big reason I’m now playing in the Championship.”
Tanner signed from Lewes three years ago and had a tough first season where he had to not only adapt to training full-time rather than part-time but also cope with a five-division leap.
He added: “There were lots of things where I had to sharpen up but I’ve got there now.
“It’s a hard division but I’ve got lots of games under my belt.
“All focus now is on staying up.”
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