Tom Clare shot to fame on Love Island All Stars where he found Molly Smith. The couple are now engaged, house-hunting and planning for their wedding while Tom is planning a return to non-league football, and he spoke exclusively to WhichBingo about discipline, mental health, routine and why he’s doing two of the most stressful things in life at exactly the same time.
“Football Keeps Me Sane”
Tom is unequivocal on one thing… going back to football. His time at Macclesfield under Robbie Savage gave him a taste of balancing professional sport with a public profile, but the realities of missed training sessions made consistency difficult. That changes next season.
“I am definitely going back to football. I was at Macclesfield last season, training whenever I could and getting to as many games as possible. But it’s hard. If I miss training, it’s not fair for me to be in the matchday squad on a Saturday when the other lads are training week in, week out. I’m sorting a few things out with a team in the Manchester area who are a non-league side.
Football keeps me sane, and until my legs don’t work anymore, I’ll keep playing.”
On the question of negativity from teammates or online given his profile, he is relaxed.
“You always get negative comments no matter what you do, but the lads were great at Macclesfield. They understood my position, and I worked hard and trained hard. You get 99% positive and always that 1% negative, but I didn’t lose sleep over it.”
The Sheffield Wednesday Story That Has Never Left Him
Ask Tom how his footballing background has shaped everything else he does and the answer goes back to being 16 years old at Barnsley’s academy, and a two-minute mistake he has never forgotten.
“Discipline has been a huge one. Growing up and coming through the academy ranks at Barnsley, discipline was drummed into you from a young age. I remember when I was 16 doing my scholarship. We were playing Sheffield Wednesday on the Saturday, which is a big Yorkshire derby, and I turned up two minutes late. I didn’t play in the game. Not as a punishment for the sake of it, but to teach me as a young man what discipline means. That stuck with me.”
That lesson has filtered into every corner of his life, including his relationship.
“Now, whenever we have to be somewhere, I tell Molly ten minutes earlier than we actually need to leave, so football has absolutely helped shape my discipline in every area of life.”
Tom has been open about his own mental health journey and uses his platform to encourage other men to speak up. He is clearly proud of how the conversation has shifted.
“It’s massive. I think a lot more men are speaking up now and it’s absolutely amazing, nobody should ever feel like they can’t speak to someone. That’s the power of social media done right.
Even older generations of men who were brought up to think ‘man up’ or keep things to themselves are now opening up, which is a completely different attitude.
I always say a problem spoken about is a problem halved. Everyone goes through struggles, everyone faces difficult days, and the conversation is really moving in the right direction.”
Wembley at 4am, Workout by Morning
Life after football, or rather, alongside it, looks very different now, but one thing has remained constant.
“With football, I’d get up, go straight to training, eat, come back home, and that was it. Now my days are so varied.
Sometimes I find it hard to keep a routine, but I make sure I get up early every morning and get a workout in. If I don’t get a workout in, I’m not myself.
The other night we were at Wembley and didn’t get back until 4am, then I was up again for a shoot, and then we had to record an episode of our podcast. I love it and I wouldn’t change any of it.”
Two of the Most Stressful Things at Exactly the Same Time
As if planning a wedding weren’t enough, Tom and Molly are simultaneously navigating a house sale and the search for their forever home which is causing a few headaches.
“The big one at the minute is the podcast, that’s our main focus. But we’ve also just sold our house and we’re looking to buy our forever home. So we’re right in the middle of that while planning a wedding.
We’ve basically done two of the most stressful things you can do at the same time. But hopefully once the house sale goes through, we can focus on getting into the new place. I won’t be moving again.”
Updated June 17, 2026
Shaun Frackleton
Entertainment Specialist
A trained journalist who has worked with Sky Sports and the Manchester Evening News, Shaun has a proven track record of interviewing high-profile personalities including Beverley Callard and Gaynor Faye of Coronation Street, and many more.
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