Former Premier League midfielder Sam Clucas has explained how his desire to keep playing led him away from Lincoln City and into talks with Michael Appleton.
Sam’s second spell at Sincil Bank ended in the summer of 2025 after eight appearances and one goal, scored directly from a corner against Mansfield Town. City offered him a pathway into coaching, but Clucas felt he still had more to give on the pitch and subsequently joined Shrewsbury Town.
His lack of regular opportunities with the Imps prompted plenty of debate at the time. Reflecting on the offer made at the end of that spell, Clucas said his experience under the management in place then had influenced his decision to move on.
It was another former Lincoln manager who helped shape his next step. Appleton, then in charge at Shrewsbury, travelled to Lincoln to meet Clucas and discuss a move that would give the experienced midfielder another opportunity in the Football League.
“I spoke to Michael Appleton, who’s obviously a former Lincoln manager,” he told Championship Lowdown in a podcast released later today.
“He’d come and met me in Lincoln, actually. He drove over and met me, had a really good conversation with him. And yeah, they offered me a two-year deal, which I wasn’t going to get at my age at many other places. It was a really good deal, years-wise, but it was just the other side of the country.”
The length of that deal was an important attraction for Clucas, who was 34 when he made the move. It also brought a return to travelling away from his hometown, although he spoke warmly about the club and his relationship with the chairman.
“It was back over where I used to live the year before, so I ended up doing a lot of commuting. But, yeah, just a really good family club, really good place to be involved in. Really get on with the chairman really well.
“Thought we was going to do really well. And again, never really happened in the season. Appleton ended up leaving.
“I played a lot of games that season. New management came in and then what happens with different managers sometimes, you see different things. I wanted different things and we ended up just coming to an agreement.
“I was obviously commuting a lot and staying over. And if I wasn’t going to play and make as many appearances that I would like or I thought I was going to, it probably wasn’t going to be worth doing all that.”
That has led to him currently being a free agent, although recent reports have linked him with a move to Worthing.
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