PICK OF THE BUNCH
How Jordan Pickford went from a ‘scrawny kid’ to England’s No 1
JORDAN PICKFORD was on the England team bus for the first time in 2016 when captain Wayne Rooney took a sneaky picture on his mobile phone.
The snap was sent to John O’Shea, a team-mate of the young goalkeeper at Sunderland.
George Honeyman was in the Black cats dressing room when O’Shea shared it with the rest of the squad. ‘Rooney wrote, “Hasn’t said a word!”,’ said the midfielder, a pal of Pickford since the age of 11 at the club’s academy.
‘it was funny, Jordan was so lively at Sunderland, he never shut up. But he’d gone there and not spoken at all — we found it quite unusual!’
The ribbing did not end there, as Honeyman recalls: ‘Jordan’s not the type to brag, but he came back to training and let slip something about “Wazza”. He got a bit of stick for that.’
Less than two years on and that impressionable rookie is England’s No 1 after becoming the most expensive keeper in British history last summer by joining Everton for £30million. He will earn his fourth cap when he faces Tunisia next Monday in England’s World cup opener.
Speak to those who know Pickford best, however, and they will tell you that inexperience will not faze the 24-year-old.
Honeyman spoke to him earlier this week and says he is ‘raring to go’. That, it would seem, has always been his way.
‘He’s always been a fierce competitor,’ adds Honeyman. ‘The reason he has succeeded is how competitive he is. Off the pitch, he’s the life and soul, no-one dislikes him.
Everyone says goalkeepers are mad, but he genuinely is a nutter, in the nicest way. He loves boxing, motocross, golf, he’s just a fun guy to be around.’
former Sunderland academy boss kevin Ball was club captain when he first met Pickford, then a five-year-old autograph hunter at his hero’s car window.
Born in Washington, eight miles from the Stadium of Light, Pickford was a Sunderland fanatic — just like his builder dad, Lee, and his mother, Sue.
‘He wanted an autograph and a photo and said i was his favourite player,’ remembers Ball, now a club ambassador. ‘He showed me that picture years later and asked if i recognised who was in it. i said, “The handsome one is obviously me, and i’m guessing that scrawny little kid is you?”.’
Their relationship was not always so jovial, Honeyman recalls. ‘We were away at Blackburn, Bally was giving Jordan stick for one of their goals and they started arguing. Bally said, “You’ll never make it with that attitude”. Jordan just stared straight back at him and said, “i bet i will”.’
Ball recalls the tale with affection, adding: ‘i had to make him understand what he needed to do to get to where he wanted to be.
‘He knew he had potential and ability. He wanted to be in the first team at 17 and was pushy, but i liked that. He challenged me.’
Pickford rang Ball on the day of his senior debut to say thank you. He is, it seems, a young man who will never forget his roots.
He now lives on Merseyside but made a point of returning to the north-east to collect his football Writers’ Young Player of the Year award in february.
‘He’s a typical, down-to-earth lad, there is no arrogance, it’s all confidence,’ says ex-Sunderland goalkeeping coach Adrian Tucker, who worked with Pickford after his first-team breakthrough.
Remarkably, that did not arrive until January 2016, coming on the back of loan spells and more than 100 appearances at Darlington, Alfreton, Burton, carlisle, Bradford and Preston.
‘What i love about him is his mental strength,’ says Tucker. ‘We used to play golf together and i would give him a thrashing, but he’d always come back for more.
‘i went to watch him when he was on loan at Bradford against Yeovil. He got clattered by their big centre forward. The first thing he did was get straight back up. i thought, “You’ll do for me, son”.’
it was not always Pickford being clattered, however. Sunderland’s juniors were away at crystal Palace one day when his usually dependable kicking let him down.
What followed has stayed with Honeyman, and he laughs as he begins: ‘He mishit this clearance and it annoyed him as it wasn’t going to make halfway. Jordan went chasing after it. The ball landed with their player on the centre circle and he was unaware Jordan was running towards him at full speed. it was one of the best tackles i’ve ever seen! He sent their guy flying but won the ball. But that’s him — determination, pride in himself and confidence.’
keeping Pickford within his area was an issue for Ball, too, due to skills honed playing in the street with older brother Richard Logan, a one-time striker for Darlington.
‘We have a session where we put the keeper at centre back, to help him understand the game from the position in front of him,’ says Ball. Jordan was unbelievable. He was just as good playing outfield.
‘But it was a problem. We wanted to play the ball out from the back and the keepers had to use the defenders. i remember Jordan pinging the ball 50 yards to the right winger and i said, “What are you doing, we want to play out from the back?”.
‘He said, “Yeah, but i’m better than them”. i looked at him and thought, “You’re probably right”.’
Honeyman added: ‘He always wanted to go outfield at training. Even at Under-16s we got bigger crowds as people came just to see him. They used to come to see his kicking. That’s how special he was.’
Pickford was pulling on to his mother’s driveway in October 2016 when he got the call to say he had been selected for England.
Sue did not believe her son when he delivered the shock news. But they certainly believe him now.