Pickford on England records, World Cup dream & love of motocross

The Football Interview is a new series in which the biggest names in sport and entertainment join host Kelly Somers for bold and in-depth conversations about the nation’s favourite sport.

We’ll talk about defining moments, career highs, and personal reflections, as well as motivation and mindset. The Football Interview brings you the person behind the player.

Jordan Pickford, who just signed a new contract with the Toffees, wants to stay there for many years. He is both England’s and Everton’s top player.

The 31-year-old started his career at his boyhood club Sunderland and had spells on loan at several lower-league clubs before making the move to Merseyside in 2017.

Everton has made more than 300 appearances for Pickford and won the team’s player of the year award four times, including the previous three, despite that fact, since then.

More recently, he set a new England record for consecutive clean sheets, which he extended to nine matches after the win against Latvia earlier in October.

Kelly Somers: Let’s start with football, what does it mean to you?

Jordan Pickford: Honestly, that is all I know. As a young kid I played since I was five years old, so I grew up being a football fan and I had the opportunity to be a footballer which is every kid’s dream. It’s a huge honor for me and I take great pride in the fact that I became a football player because there are only so many people who can realize that dream.

Kelly: Did you always think you would be a goalkeeper?

Jordan: I always had a goal, and that was when I first remember it. I remember playing with my brother and his mates in the street and I was in the goal on the concrete. I went in goal when my brother was competing for the district at the time, which was pretty much the beginning of my development.

Kelly: A goalkeeper playing on concrete as well?

Jordan: I’m crazy, am I not?

Kelly: Who was your childhood idol?

Jordan: When I was younger, I remember watching Kevin Phillips and Thomas Sorensen play for Sunderland, but as I got older, I remember Wazza [Wayne Rooney] and Joe Hart.

Kelly: So you always had the attacking player you liked but the goalkeeper too?

Wazza is a legend, isn’t he? I was a bit too young for Gazza]Paul Gascoigne].

Kelly, as a boyhood fan, how did it feel to first experience Sunderland?

Jordan: It all begins when you’re younger, but back when you were growing up, you used to get day releases on Tuesdays, giving you the full day of training. At 14 or 15 I got invited to train on Thursday morning at Sunderland and train with the youth team, so I used to have a day and a half off school so that was when I thought that I was sticking it properly then.

Kelly, you made it to Everton despite having a lot of loans at Sunderland. What was that move like for you?

Jordan: Considering the loans, I would say that if any goalkeeper had the chance to play on loan and in the lower leagues, it would be more advantageous than playing for a youth team. You are playing a proper game, there’s a lot more pressure that you thrive off and you learn and mature more as a goalkeeper. It’s probably the best thing that ever occurred to me as I took those loans. I’ll never forget when I was on loan at Preston, I was doing really well and big Sam]Allardyce] called me back and gave me a new contract and I made my debut in the FA Cup against Arsenal in the same week. I made my Premier League debut a week later, and the rest of the season I spent sat on the bench, but it was a different positive experience. The year after Vito Mannone got injured and that is where I grabbed the opportunity with both hands.

Kelly: The club seems to be filled with both a lot of excitement and a lot of hype. You are often linked to other clubs. Why was this the ideal time to conclude a new agreement?

Jordan: When I first signed we were in Europe and that was the driver then and that is where Everton should be. The club is moving in the right direction after two or three years that were a bit of a rollercoaster ride. You see with the signings the club has made and the drive we have this season to improve, it comes from the top of the club. I believe we will see far more positive outcomes and continue to advance. You want to be playing in the Premier League and I have that opportunity with Everton.

Kelly: What goals does Everton have going this season?

Jordan: I’ll never look at the end of the season and say, ‘ I want to do this’, I always take it game by game.

Kelly: You must have a vision for Everton’s future when signing a new contract, right?

Jordan: I don’t take all the credit. Because Banksy is a true legend in the game, it is a great honor to break a record like that. However, I always say that it is a team effort: we win together, lose together, and keep clean records together. I know Harry Kane keeps scoring goals week in and week out, but the lads are there to provide service and I am there to help the lads when I am needed to make a save and be called upon, that is what I feel like I do. Because of how much I may not have had in the past, I am always present as a goalkeeper because I always make the right saves when needed and play backward in games. So there’s a lot more to it than just clean sheets because it is not as if I am having seven or eight saves to make in a game, there’s the concentration element to it. I give credit for that in terms of staying in the moment and staying in the game, but I never give credit for keeping a clean sheet.

Kelly: How do you stay in the moment when you are not busy?

Jordan: You must maintain mental fortitude. Every goalkeeper is different. If the ball is in the other half of the pitch, for me it will always be on the right side, always mirroring it, and always making sure I feel in the right place to get a through-ball or save if it is breaking down. Communication as well, I feel like just being connected is key.

Kelly, you have a remarkable career going, and you still have a good few more years to go. But when you reflect on it all, do you ever feel like I might not have had the opportunity to achieve what I do?

Jordan: I think I have always had that mentality that I want to improve myself. I don’t want to think that I’m always striving for better for myself because I’ve won 80 caps for England or 330 for Everton. When my son Arlo was born that was a big change where there was an unknown to the family. Megan and I both had a new experience, which was significant. That was when I had a bit of a dip of form and that is when I started using psychologists, rough with the smooth.

Kelly, your team-mates have shared some interesting sayings about your personality. I’ve heard James Tarkowski say you bark at him and you have had arguments on the pitch. Declan Rice and Kyle Walker have used various expressions to describe you, but I’ve read some of the quotes. All they are saying is a little bit bonkers is how you are.

Jordan: There is probably a line where sometimes I go too much that way. I’m attempting to adapt that to. There has got to be a balance. When I wear a football shirt, I hate losing when I play small-sided football with the boys in training. It gets me right up. It demonstrates my desire to win, in my opinion.

Kelly: We know how your team-mates describe you, how would your best friend or family describe you?

Jordan: I believe they will point out that I care about people like my friends and that I always want the best for everyone. I think it is one thing I am good at.

What kind of father do you have playing football? Kelly Do you try to blend in or are you shouting at your boy?

Kelly: What was it like growing up in your house?

Mad Jordan . That was mad. My brother and I were both really well raised by my parents. They were strict but not too strict. Many of our goals were accomplished thanks to them. Times have changed now, you don’t see kids out on the street as much now and I feel like we’ve lost that way a bit. My mother was yelling, “Get in Jordan, you have school tomorrow,” as I was walking down the street. I wanted to be out all the time,

Kelly, maybe you were a little naughty at first?

Jordan: I think so. I’d be described as something else by my mother!

Kelly: I read a quote from you the other day that even when you get an England call-up now your mum still texts you congratulations so you are obviously very close.

Jordan: I’ll call her every day when I get home from training. She will text me before every call-up and text me saying good luck before every game and would text me after saying well done whether I’ve had a good game or a bad game.

Kelly, tell me something about yourself that would surprise me.

Jordan: I am not allowed to do it as a footballer but I would love to be able to do motocross. My best best friend now competes in the British Championships, and I watched it as a child with my best friend every week. If I could I would go every week to watch as much as I can. If I could, I would, but our contracts forbid us from doing that, which is against the law. That is probably one thing in my life I would have love to have done.

Kelly, do you have a lot of passion for that?

Jordan: Yes as I went from such a young age and we would stay in motorhomes and caravans at the racetrack as kids and it was mint. The adrenaline I experience when my friends are getting ready for a good start and I am properly leaning over and cheering them on is what I get from watching them on the start line and the gate drop, then the first corner.

Kelly: Do you get spotted there?

Jordan: Yes, I’m spotted, but it doesn’t bother me because I lean over to push them on in an effort to improve. It gives me proper adrenaline and it is one of the things I love.

Kelly, what would you like to accomplish with your career if you could only accomplish one thing?

Jordan: Win the World Cup.

Kelly, when is next summer?

Jordan: Yep. That would be acceptable to me. It is what the whole nation is waiting for.

Kelly, do you believe this is your best chance right now?

Jordan: Yes we’ve had some great opportunities. You can learn from watching the young people win cups and Champions League the more you have seen them win in tournament football. I think, for me, to lift that World Cup or a major trophy for England would be number one and if I could ever get silverware at Everton that would be number two. It would be amazing to be a part of England’s victory since it hasn’t won anything in a long time. We have to believe in ourselves, we have that opportunity and we have to take it with both hands but you are playing the best nations in the world and you have to play your best in each game and that’s what takes you so far.

Kelly, what do you most admire?