Ollie Tanner:
"I feel good," “I came back this summer and was probably not in the best place. I didn't have a very good loan last year. I've worked very hard in pre-season to stay in the plans, but I scored a few goals and I thought I did well.
"The manager has given me a chance in this game and every time you play it is a chance to show what you can do. When I get the chance to do that then I have to.”
"For a player like me who is on the fringe, it's nice to have these games because the Championship is a long season. You are going to need the squad and you might get a chance to play - so you've got to be ready."
Tanner is 21 years old but he is clearly a raw talent. His ability to cut inside and shoot as well as taking players on the outside and rifling a right-footed effort or cross across goal have been hallmarks of his game in pre-season.
But there is still some way to go before he displaces the plethora of wingers currently at the club, including new signings Yakou Meite, Josh Bowler and Karlan Grant.
But the bullish Bromley native insists he will fight for his spot.
"We have signed some top players, especially in my position, so it'll be hard for me," he added. "I am young and there are boys with 200, 300 appearances at this level – I'm not deluded. They are going to be in the team, they're going to play.“
"But I am going to challenge them. I won't go away.
"I am enjoying my time at the minute. I don't want to leave, but if I need to go out and play games and that's what the manager wants from me then I will."
Tanner's first experience of football out on loan was a poor one.
He played only eight games before the Minstermen sacked manager David Webb and the new manager, Michael Morton, didn't use the Bluebirds man after his appointment.
For Tanner, he hopes the experience will make him stronger and ready for what this season has to throw at him.
"It was a weird one," Tanner said of the York stint. "I went in and played a little bit. Results didn't go our way and the manager ended up getting sacked. So, once he got sacked, when a team is near relegation, clubs start to panic and they resorted to a more defensive formation, put five at the back and stopped playing wingers.
"I wasn't in the plans. As hard as it was to take, I understood it. I kept training and working hard. They stayed up and I came back here. It is what it is, you have good loans, you have bad loans, I took the good and bad experience from it.
"Football is a short career, you've got to cherish every moment, bad and good. Unfortunately it wasn't a good experience, but I'll take that for the future. Hopefully that doesn't happen again."
It's been a big adjustment period, but this summer Tanner couldn't have done much more to impress Bulut. Indeed, the manager is still yet to make his mind up on what to do with Tanner, with one of him and Kieron Evans likely to have to head out on loan.
EROL BULUT:
“We haven’t made our decision yet. Young players have to play. It’s not good for them to sit on the bench or out of the squad in the under-21s," Bulut said of Tanner.
"Maybe it’s better for him to go out on loan but somewhere he will play often, not 10 games, it won't be enough for him, a minimum of 30-35 games he will have to play to increase his qualities.
"Then, you never know, you might have a really good player for the future.”
Tanner does need games. In this squad, with the talent in those wide areas, it looks unlikely he will be able to get the requisite minutes in his legs which will help to get him up to Championship level.
But Tanner has to pinch himself when thinking about how far he has come in the last year. It was not so long ago, he says, that he was a young Arsenal fan watching one of his idols, Aaron Ramsey, on the TV. Now, he is calling for the ball off him in training.
It's all surreal and hammers home a bit of perspective with regards to his trajectory.
Ollie Tanner:
"When I first came in, it was tough. I was coming in the dark, I didn't know what to expect. It was hard. At the time Morro (Steve Morison) was here and he helped me, but I was in and out of training, had a little injury and it set me back," he said.
"But I had a good six months in the end before going out on loan. I have come back this season, I knew what to expect and I feel like I've been a lot better.
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