A Look Back At Exeter’s Newest Recuit – Tom Carroll’s

Back in May, Tom Carroll gave an interview to the online newspaper WalesOnline. He discussed his love for Swansea, his time at Spurs and why he moved on.

“As soon as I knew there was interest [fom Swansea], I wanted to go. The few years before with Brendan (Rodgers) and (Michael) Laudrup, Swansea got that reputation of playing really good football. I remember every time they were on Sky, I thought ‘they’re playing the right way, that’s a bit of me’.

Tom joined Swansea on loan in August 2014.

“It was a good squad with some great leaders. Ashley Williams, Neil Taylor, Wayne Routledge and Nathan Dyer, I felt like a bit of a young kid at the time.

“As a manager he (Monk) was good. It probably wasn’t total Swansea like they’re playing now or the way they got that reputation, but he wanted to put his stamp on things and you’ve got to leave people out and things like that, so it’s tough. But we had some great games, we beat Arsenal 2-1 at home, we had good times.”

The full WalesOnline interview can be found at https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/tom-carrolls-swansea-city-love-26823081

Tom played 13 games in the Premier League for Swansea, starting 8 times. He played 18 times in all that season, scoring a goal in the FA Cup against Tranmere Rovers. At the end of the season, Tom returned to Spurs.

He stayed at Spurs until January 2017, but he didn’t get a lot of game time with Spurs. H played a total of 58 times for Spurs in all competitions and scoring three times. However, under Mauricio Pochettino Tom’s game time dwindled and he played just the three times in the 2016/17 season.

“I had a few years left on my deal, I’d played quite a lot the year before, but the year after I wasn’t getting much game-time,” he said of his final stages in north London. “I’d made my mind up that it was the right time to go, I wanted to play week-in week-out.

On January 17 2017, Tom signed for Swansea City for a transfer fee thought to be £4.5m.

Swansea had just sacked their manager, Bob Bradley and had appointed Paul Clement. But Swansea were battling against relegation from the Premier League. They survived that season.

“Swansea were in a difficult place and written off almost,” he said of his second stint at the club. “They’d gone through a few managers, and I came in under Paul Clement, and Nigel Gibbs who I know well through Spurs.

“But I loved it. I wanted to play. I got thrown straight in, my first game we played Liverpool and beat them at Anfield. The big man Fernando (Llorente) with his head was incredible. I enjoyed it, we got some wins, the confidence grew and it was a really good group.

However, Swansea were relegated to the Championship at the end of the 2017/18 season.

“When we went down, I thought ‘let’s push to go straight back up’. You don’t just want to go into the Championship and become a mid-table team.

“Potter was a brilliant coach and was almost a little bit ahead of his time. It was just little things that we as players hadn’t seen before. The boys really enjoyed his coaching.”

A hip issue meant that Tom only featured for the Swans 13 times. After a 3 months on the sidelines surprisingly Tom went to Aston Villa on loan.

But Tom only played 35 minutes for Villa.

“It was just a bit crazy really, but I remember my first session at Villa, I made a pass and my hip pinged. We had a game the next day and I was on the bench, I was almost embarrassed to tell them. Then in the warm-up, I had to clip a ball and I felt a tear in my hip again.

In the 2019/20 season Tom played 9 times for Swansea in the Championship. Then on deadline day in September 2020 he signed for QPR.

Tom made 24 appearances for Queens Park Rangers, playimg most of QPR’s matches up to mid January. Tom then moved to League One side Ipswich Town, managing to appear for the Tractor Boys 17 times.

Tom Carroll then missed the 2022/23 season because of injury.

“This year has probably been the hardest mentally that I’ve ever had to deal with,” said the 30-year-old. “I’ve been training at Spurs and then I was with a Championship club which I thought was going to happen, but it was a bit of a mess in the end and it didn’t happen.

“I need to look at if I’m going to stay in England, if a team takes me in pre-season I’d back myself to show my quality. Hopefully something good will come up. I feel like I can still play at a high level. I still feel young, I feel good at the minute.

Highlights of Tom Carroll in a Man of the Match performance against Bolton Wanderers in January 2014