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| Sam Clucas Playing For Hereford At Hyde In September 2012 |
Former Hereford midfielder Sam Clucas, in an interview with another former player Kyle Perry, has revealed that when with Hereford he was paid £200 per week.
Later when playing in the Premiership he was paid a lot more, but he maintained it was never about money.
"Certainly when I was at Hereford, which is four hours away from Lincoln, I was on £200 a week. I couldn't even afford to drive home sometimes after buying food and that.
"I had just come from the Glenn Hoddle academy and I got offered the same money at Barnet, but I was like, how can I afford to live in London on £200 a week. Hereford had promised me game time so I chose to go there.
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| Sam Clucas Fight Offs Former Bull Joe Colbeck In A Game Against Grimsby |
"I've had to fight tooth and nail to get to where I have.
"Like when I was young and playing at Hereford I would always read the forums which I've learnt not to do anymore.
"I've got one saved on my phone about a guy saying that if Clucas ever plays above Conference I'll eat my hat. And I posted it up when I made it to the Premier League. Stuff like that used to get me down but it also gave me the drive, I would use it as fuel, I'm going to prove him wrong.
"I played at left wing at Hereford but got tried everywhere
"I have turned down so many moves on more money, it has never been about money. It comes with the success.
"But coming from where I have, I know I have had a big transfer fee, I think people would be shocked and surprised at how much I was earning at Swansea after my big move there, compared to the price tag I went for and other players there.
"I would not have even been in the top 10 earners at the time I was there.
"Hull offered me the same money that Swansea did when they got relegated.
"I said that I love my time here, I would love to stay, if it was another Championship team then I would have no interest in going.
"But, from where I come from, to have another year in the Premier League is something I could not turn down.
"They got a good a good deal out of it and a good transfer fee. I think they paid £1 million for me from Chesterfield and ended up getting £14m back.
"The salary has never meant anything to me," he continued. "You get more the more successful you get.
"At Stoke to stay an extra year I took a 65 per cent pay cut to stay when I could have gone to another Championship team on the same money I was getting already.
"Once you have been there, there is more to life than money. It's not the be all and end all, it would probably cause more problems than solve them when you get to the top.
"It comes with football, but it has never been about that."
As for the future Clucas would like to open an acadamy in Lincoln, his home town.
“I’m still going to play football until I can’t, because I can have a long career coaching when I finish. That’s certainly something I’m going to look into. Like I said, I want to start an academy in Lincoln. I’ve wanted to do one for years, but I was always torn because I was living away.
“I didn’t want it to be a token gesture where I just put my name to something. I want to be present and hands-on. I don’t want loads of local lads doing the coaching and I’m never there. I want my name on it and I want to actually be there.”
Watch the interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yNruAlk0rA