Conor Washington
is recollecting. While many other players at
Euro 2016
will be able to recall deeds performed at Euro 2012, Washington’s memories from then are of delivering letters around Cambridgeshire in England.
Washington had just turned 20 and was playing non-League football for St Ives Town in the United Counties League while working as a postman.
Appearing at Euro 2016 for Northern Ireland, or anyone, was not on his mind. As he says: "One of the last games [for St Ives Town], my brother drove me, but took me to the wrong stadium to start with. Well, I say stadium, it was more like a park pitch.
“I was in the running for the golden boot and I turned up at 2.57pm. It was just ridiculous. I ran into the changing rooms, the manager is screaming at me saying: ‘Where have you been? What are you doing?’
“He told me to get my kit on because I was starting. I thought, ‘I can’t be starting, it’s only three minutes to kick-off’.
“Funnily enough, from the kick-off, the ball’s come to me about 25 yards out and I’ve just hit it. It’s gone straight into the top corner. Maybe I should play without warming up more often.”
It is unlikely Michael O'Neill's diligence would permit a random approach to any match, but Washington's introduction to Northern Ireland has brought another element to O'Neill's squad. On the pitch it comes in the form of a muscular attacking presence to supplement Kyle Lafferty; off it, Washington's ego-free enthusiasm has meant swift assimilation.
Slagging
The lack of individualism was mentioned by Washington soon after he first joined up, which was only in March. He was impressed by Lafferty’s instant slagging of his finishing: “From the minute I walked in the door, at the first training session Kyle Lafferty is hammering me for missing a couple of chances.
“It’s perfect really, exactly what you’d want as a pro footballer. There’s nothing worse than people tip-toeing around the new boy. You want to be on the end of a bit of a banter and it’s a credit to the manager that he’s got such a good group of lads together.”
The collectivism has aided Washington’s transition. As he says, four years ago as a postman he was “up at 5am, then in for 5.30-6.00” to deliver his round. Three years ago, after a £5,000 transfer, he made his league debut for Newport County in League Two.
Two years ago he joined Peterborough United in League One. This season began with a 2-0 defeat at Rochdale before a run of 13 goals in 14 games led to a £2.8 million (€3.6 million) January transfer to the Championship with QPR.
By March, O'Neill had checked out Washington's Scottish father and English mother and discovered a grandparent – Pamela – from Belfast. She died 10 years ago and Kent-born Washington remembers little bar a strong accent. It's been his passport to France.
“Dreamland stuff” is how he describes it and no wonder.
Twists
As with similar players, there have been twists en route such as a C-grade maths exam which meant he would not follow his brother into the RAF – “I’ve got two A-Levels as well, so hopefully I would’ve gone in as an officer,” he says. And there was rejection by Norwich City.
The latter has led to a journey – and a style and attitude – now dubbed “Vardyesque”. If that’s in danger of becoming a cliché, Washington understands the interpretation.
“I’ve seen a lot of players who’ve come through academies and sort of been in shock at what football’s like in the Championship, League One and League Two,” he says.
“The weekly basis of playing for an under-21 team, it’s just stats basically – who’s got the most possession and so on. It just doesn’t relate to league football in my opinion. You can get bogged down in the technical side of it and you lose some of that rawness.”
Rawness is an ingredient O'Neill likes. The manager's concern was that he will need options should anything happen to Lafferty. Now something has and Washington, yet to score for QPR, might be Northern Ireland's centre forward on Sunday. Poland's will be Robert Lewandowski.
