Willmott swaps shelf-stacking for a potshot at Pochettino
In May, he was stacking shelves in Tesco, considering himself a “former professional footballer”; on Saturday, he will be playing against Tottenham Hotspur in front of a global audience of millions. Robbie Willmott is the living and disbelieving proof that the FA Cup’s fantastical qualities are far from moribund.
The right winger was part of Newport County’s 1-1 draw against Morecambe in League Two on Tuesday and, like everyone in Rodney Parade, he admitted it was a struggle to focus on the job in hand. The Kane-and-the-gang hype had already been in full swing and, in Willmott’s case, even affecting his daily routine.
“I live in a house with two of the other players and it’s right across the road from the ground. There’s been thousands queuing for Spurs tickets and it’s taken me 40 minutes to get up and down my street on my way to and from practice,” he said.
“The other morning, there were cars parked on the kerb outside our place in the early hours, with drivers sleeping and waiting to be first in line. It’s been surreal – mad, totally mad.”
For Willmott, perhaps more than anyone. Certainly, he could not have begun to envisage the scenario of facing Mauricio Pochettino’s side at the start of last year. “I was ready to walk away, stacking shelves, and here I am playing Spurs at home,” he said. “I was 25, but to my mind I was done. I’d been released by Newport in 2015, after supposedly being on the radar of Championship clubs a few months earlier and, after dropping back into non-league and having a bad time at Ebbsfleet, I was playing part-time for Bishop’s Stortford in Conference South and thinking realistically about my future. I was living with my dad, who was a manager at Tesco, and he told me: ‘You need to get a part-time job, you can’t live on your football earnings any more.’ He was right.
“For many players who have been full-time, they wouldn’t even consider it, as they’d want to keep up the image, but it didn’t bother me. I honestly needed to drop out and live in the real world – I think a lot could do with it. I was working with people who had been at Tesco for 20-plus years. I was putting my head down, doing what I was told.
“It was a culture shock, having to leave the house every day at 5.15am, but – and you won’t believe me – I really enjoyed it there.”
In those aisles, Willmott rediscovered his love for the game. “When you’re training every day, you take it for granted,” he said. “But, suddenly, it was only two times a week and I couldn’t wait until the next session. I was playing well and, even though people were telling me, ‘you’re too good at this level’, I was now a part-time footballer in my own eyes. An opportunity came up to be a maintenance guy and I was learning the ropes.
“There were a few whispers that Newport were going to come back in for me, but they looked almost certainties for the drop and I just batted it off. But then, they somehow stayed up and I got a phone call from my agent. I was sorting out getting my Tesco van at the time.”
Willmott had been a team-mate of Michael Flynn’s when the Exiles returned to the Football League, after a 25-year absence, in 2013. Flynn, now the manager, recognised the 27-year-old’s enduring ability and signed him up on a two-year deal. His faith has been rewarded as, after a brief lull in October, Willmott has emerged as one of Newport’s principals in their unlikely play-off challenge. However, it was on an already famous Rodney Parade lunchtime this month when his worth shone brightest.
“I didn’t even know I’d been awarded man of the match in the Leeds win until well after the game, when my dad texted me,” Willmott said. “There were wild celebrations after but not for me, as I had a migraine and was back in my bed by 6pm, listening to the commotion outside. By then, Twitter was exploding because of Samuel Saiz’s red card for spitting after we’d scored in the final minute. I saw him gobbing, but thought he’d missed me. I then found it all down my shorts. Pretty gross. But he apologised and it’s all good.
“He’s one of my favourite players, but it just shows how you can get to them.”
Willmott is now determined not to retire wondering. “This could be a once-in-a-career game and what makes it even better for me is that I’m an Arsenal fan,” he said. “It’s essentially a free game for us and we need to get stuck in, bring them down to our level and be positive. You’ve just got to show you belong
with those players and, although that might sound daft, the gaffer and my former gaffer, Justin Edinburgh, have always told me that I can adapt to any level.
“I actually think there are a lot of players like that out there. I played against Jamie [Vardy] when he was at Fleetwood, and alongside Andre Gray when we were both at Luton, and they are the evidence where you can get if you aim high.
“This is our shop window and we could get the fans coming back in droves. Saying that, I don’t want them all clogging up my street every day.”