Collins Tanor was born in the Brong-Ahafo region of central Ghana on January 4 1998. He was brought up in a respectable area and his parents were not poor, despite having five children. Despite his parents’ initial reluctance, Collins joined the Dare to Dream education and football programme aged 10. The application process for a student athlete scholarship was long but he was successful. He would go on to study sports business management.
Young Tanor was a model student and owner Tom Vernon treated him like his son. The project is heavily financed by Manchester City who in return get first choice of any young footballers. No great surprise that the model pupil got the nod from City.
Like all category one clubs, the Citizens hoover up talented youngsters by the dozen, only to offload the vast majority. Officially young Tanor was on the club books from 2016 to 2020 though he didn’t get close to Premier league 2 (effectively the reserves) never mind the Premier league itself.
Instead, he was quickly shuffled off to Denmark and another test of his language skills. He joined Supoerliga club FC. Nordsjaelland based in Farum. It’s a quiet town on the very edge of the Copenhagen train network. Probably no coincidence that the club was owned by Tom Vernon. “I’ve worked so hard for this” enthused Tanor on his debut “it’s an unbelievable day and a dream come true.” Sadly, the dream didn’t last long as the midfielder rarely played. He would have preferred to move on but was persuaded by his agent (who was Tom Vernon’s lawyer) and Vernon himself to stay for another year. With the same lack of game time. The same scenario was repeated. Loan to a Belgium club. Two games. Another Danish club. Two games. And another Danish outfit Thisted gave more game time, but being a City player meant he would have to return to a club who had no real use for him.
The Blues of Manchester released him in 2020 but covid was coming and there was no work to find. Collins remained philosophical in difficult circumstances thanks to his faith. “I am a very religious person and my family taught me to not hate or hate others” he told Polikens. He keeps himself physically fit and recent pictures show a six-pack that Ryan Green would envy.
His football journey moved on. In 2021, he had a month with Shukura Kobuleti in the Georgian league, a desperately cold and brief experience for the Ghana-born man. His first team minutes totalled 324. The following year, 2022, he somehow ended up in Indiana, with the South Bend Lions in USL league Two. A new club founded in 2019 by Ritchie Jeune who also owns Kettering Town FC. The nomad couldn’t settle here and after three months he was the move to somewhere.
In June 2023, Collins got married and expanded further his collection of clubs for registering with Stratford Town in August 2023. How or why is unclear. He has yet to play for Stratford Town but suddenly in January 2024, was playing for their tenants FC Stratford of Hellenic Division One (the league below Westfields, Peggy etc). There was 90 minutes against Tyrington Rocks, a few minutes in an abandoned fixture and 83 minutes against Calne.
Suddenly Hereford FC were interested in this unlikely candidate, impressed by feedback of his balance and pace. I asked the Gaffer for his thinking and Cadds explained that he knew someone at Dare the Dream who’d recommended the player. Tanos also had visa issues which may partly explain his nomadic existence.
This account is rather patchy. What iis clear there is plenty of life experience for our new arrival but match experience? Tanos has played less than 40 mens games and he’s now 26. The Hereford community U18s have players with similar totals. Of greater concern is that Collins has never scored and managed only 4 months football since 2020.
How our new guy adapts will be fascinating to see.
Simon Wright
