Club leader cheers, elected with hat on (7)
I believe the answer is:
captain
'club leader' is the definition.
'captain' can be an answer for 'leader' (captain is a kind of leader). I'm not certain of the 'club' bit.
'cheers elected with hat on' is the wordplay.
'cheers' becomes 'ta' (both can informally mean thank you).
'elected' becomes 'in' (in government).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'hat' becomes 'cap' (cap is a type of hat).
'on' means one lot of letters goes inside another (as in clothing 'on' a person).
'in' after 'cap' is 'capin'.
'ta' inserted into 'capin' is 'CAPTAIN'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for captain that I've seen before include "Skip" , "Leader" , "Commander of a ship" , "US policeman" , "Skipper" .)