Sam Clucas: ‘One fan wrote, If he plays above League Two I’ll eat my hat’

The Swansea midfielder opens up about defying critics, the damage fans do on Twitter and the secrets behind the Carlos Carvalhal revival

Rejected by Leicester City, released by Lincoln City and turned down by MK Dons after scoring a hat-trick in a trial game, Sam Clucas has proved a few people wrong along the way, including one particular supporter. “I used to look on the fans’ forum when I played for Hereford and you would see people saying: ‘He’s the worst player we’ve ever signed.’ There was one – I actually took a screenshot of it on my phone – who said: ‘If he ever plays higher than League Two, I’ll eat my hat.’ That’s one that always sticks in my head,” Clucas says.

Defying the critics has become the story of Clucas’s career in many ways, with last summer’s move to Swansea presenting a familiar set of challenges for a player whose colourful CV includes a stint operating the till in a cafe at Debenhams. Jeered off when he was substituted at the Liberty Stadium against Brighton in November, Clucas was given a standing ovation by the same fans two months later after he scored twice for Swansea in a 3-1 victory over Arsenal.

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