Sam Bagshaw: Sheffield United fan with stammer attracts huge social media following

A Sheffield United fan who has stammered all his life is proving so popular on social media, one of his videos has been viewed over four million times.

Many of Sam Bagshaw's social media followers are inspired by his attempts to live a fulfilling and confident life despite the speech defect.

Sign up for newsletters from The Star

Others, who stammer themselves, are helped by Sam's videos of his experiences and challenges in day-to-day life.

Sheffield United fan Sam, who lives in Anston, Rotherham, enjoys spreading the word and highlighting the issues, and he hopes one day to be a full-time therapist.

"Putting videos on TikTok has helped my own confidence and I have made a lot of connections" he said.

"It wasn't easy talking to a camera at first, but I got great feedback from lots of people, some of them in America and Australia.

"My most popular video was viewed 4.1 million times. That really shocked me, when I posted it around 6pm it was doing the normal number of views.

"I have a lot of American followers and the next morning I saw it was getting close to a million, then it went up to more than four million.

"People looked at my profile and that helped with other posts, there are other videos that have been seen 800,000 and 400,000 times.”

The former Anston Academy pupil, (27) said he had realised he had an issue when he was four or five years old.

"I think it made me really quiet at school,  I knew I was different from everyone else. I wasn't bullied though, probably because I just got on with my own stuff and maybe kept out of the way of people.

"The worst thing about it is you might miss out on things you would like to do; maybe joining a sports or activity club. It can be hard joining a big class or group of people who have not met you before. People should be missing out on things, it's a shame.

"Stammering can be very frustrating, it can take a lot out of you, it can be hard work trying to control it."

In the past his parents helped him when he needed to speak quickly and directly - like booking appointments or arranging car insurance, for instance, he said.

But he has practiced controlled breathing while talking and says he is getting markedly better.

He said stammerers often put themselves under pressure to speak fluently when they are at a job interview or on a date but that extra anxiety can make the impediment worse.

Sam, a warehouseman at Wincanton in Catcliffe, said he started posting videos online partly as a personal challenge.

He now has just shy of 66,000 followers. His most popular post was a video of him in a Starbucks drive-through.

"People like that because it can be challenging (ordering food) even for people without a stammer.

"I talk about my experiences and people say to me that the comment section is the nicest on TikTok as I don't get negative or malicious stuff.

"It is good feedback and I am really happy that I am helping people" said the yoga student and Blades' fan.

"I will continue to do this as what I want is maybe a full time job...I am talking to a charity and others who want me to work with them."