Rejected by Leicester City, released by Lincoln City and turned down by MK Dons after scoring a hat-trick in a trial game, Sam Clucas has proved a few people wrong along the way, including one particular supporter. “I used to look on the fans’ forum when I played for Hereford and you would see people saying: ‘He’s the worst player we’ve ever signed.’ There was one – I actually took a screenshot of it on my phone – who wrote: ‘If he ever plays higher than League Two, I’ll eat my hat.’ That’s one that always sticks in my head,” the midfielder says.

Defying the critics has become the story of Clucas’s career, with last summer’s move to Swansea presenting a familiar set of challenges for a player whose colourful CV includes a stint operating the till in a cafe at Debenhams. Jeered off when substituted at the Liberty Stadium against Brighton in November, Clucas was given a standing ovation by the same fans two months later after he scored twice in a 3-1 victory over Arsenal.

That road to redemption is a well-trodden path for Clucas, only these days he has mechanisms in place during the bad times, especially when it comes to social media. “I used to be one of those players that types his name and sees what people are saying but it does get you down at times. So I thought to myself that I had to block it out because it was getting to the point where I was losing confidence going into games, thinking I was going to get slated. Now I’ve turned all my Twitter notifications off, so if I have a bad game I don’t see: ‘Clucas was rubbish, get out of my club.’

“Fans are obviously trying to vent their frustration but they don’t realise the knock-on effect it has. And obviously if that player is going to a game not full of confidence, it has a knock-on effect to the team. It’s the most frustrating part of being a footballer because, to be honest, it’s hard to bite your tongue at times. Some of the tweets, I think: ‘I wouldn’t say that to anybody.’ So if you’re going to be on social media, you’ve got to develop a thick skin, because it can be a vicious place.”

A likeable character, Clucas talks candidly about handling criticism and with no trace of anger. In the case of Swansea, he accepts he was always going to be an easy target once things started to unravel under Paul Clement. Signed from Hull in August in a deal worth about £15m, he was arguably not any worse than anyone else during Swansea’s dismal first half of the season, but he was the first player through the door after Gylfi Sigurdsson departed and became a scapegoat for a struggling team amid growing supporter unrest.

“I fully understand that. I’m a football fan, I support Manchester United and I do the same thing when they make signings,” Clucas says. “They were big boots to fill, even though I’m not the same player as Sigurdsson. It does get you down. But then I’ve got to tell myself I’m playing in the Premier League and I’m good enough. It’s hard but I’ve proved before I can turn fans’ opinions around. I’ve had the same at most clubs. I just seem to get off to a slow start – and it doesn’t help when you’re losing games.”

Sam Clucas celebrates after scoring the first of his two goals in Swansea’s win at home to Arsenal. Photograph: Athena Pictures/Getty Images

Swansea were doing that far too often before Carlos Carvalhal’s appointment at the end of December. The turnaround has been nothing short of remarkable. They have lost only twice in Carvalhal’s 16 matches, collecting 18 points from 10 league games to climb to 14th, and on Saturday they host Tottenham in their first FA Cup quarter-final in 54 years.

Asked what, specifically, Carvalhal has done to bring about change, Clucas replies: “With the old manager, every day we would be working on shape. From Monday to the matchday it would be more tactical. But the new manager has come in and just concentrated on playing through the lines and playing with freedom. You’re not stuck in your positions, you’re free to come in and link up. I think that has given the boys a lot of confidence. It has certainly helped me.”

What also shines through when talking to Clucas about Carvalhal’s impact is that the quirky, slightly eccentric manager who appears before the media is the same person the players see on a daily basis. “Even if we don’t get a result, he’ll come in on Monday and say: ‘Forget about it. You’re good enough players.’ Then he’ll just come out with one of his quotes and everyone starts laughing,” Clucas says, chuckling.

“He also tells stories in his meetings. Every day before the meeting starts, we all say to him that we want one, and he tells us a story about back in Portugal or wherever. It just makes it an enjoyable place to be. And I think if you’re in a happy environment in the week, you take that into the games. We’re a lot more confident now and we know we’ve got the backing of the fans.”

The manager has concentrated on playing through the lines and playing with freedom. You’re not stuck in your positions

Clucas is refreshingly down-to-earth, which is perhaps not surprising given his nomadic route After being let go by Leicester aged 16 because he was too small – he is now 6ft 2in – he played for non-league Nettleham, Lincoln, Jerez Industrial (in Spain), Hereford, Mansfield, Chesterfield and Hull before joining Swansea. Not that he appears old enough to have had that sort of career. “Everyone looks at me and thinks I’m 18, which is a good thing apart from when you’re on a night out and you get ID’d everywhere still when you’re 27.”

Life has certainly changed from the days when he was earning £6.20 an hour in Debenhams, yet Clucas likes to remain in touch with his roots. He is looking forward to going to Wembley to watch Lincoln, his hometown club, play Shrewsbury in the Checkatrade Trophy final and has also made a few trips back to Lincoln College, where he studied while playing non-league football, to see his old tutors. “They’re all so proud,” he says. “They’ve even opened a room at the college, I think, called the Clucas Room.”

Plenty of people have helped him along the way but he feels a huge debt of gratitude to Glenn Hoddle, who offered him a place at his academy in Spain and helped rebuild confidence after Clucas was cut by Lincoln. The two remain close and Hoddle was quick to send a complimentary message after Clucas scored those goals against Arsenal. “He always watches out for me,” Clucas says. “And it’s really nice to get a text from someone like Glenn. But I don’t think I’ll be getting too much encouragement from him for this Tottenham game.”