Everton's number one opens up on his new chant, his memories of Goodison Park and reveals a special friendship as he reflects ahead of one last game at the Old Lady
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Jordan Pickford makes a stunning save from Harry Wilson during the Premier League match between Fulham and Everton at Craven Cottag. Photo by Shaun Brooks - CameraSport via Getty Images
Jordan Pickford makes a stunning save from Harry Wilson during the Premier League match between Fulham and Everton at Craven Cottag. Photo by Shaun Brooks - CameraSport via Getty Images
It has taken almost a decade but Jordan Pickford finally has a chant dedicated to him and he loves it.
“It was good, a decent song,” he smiles as he reflects on the tune that dominated the airwaves at Fulham last Saturday: “It only took them eight years.”
It took off at Craven Cottage but there were murmurings in the weeks before and they crept onto the team coach through the masseur Jimmy Comer. “I was on the bus after one of the games and he sent me it,” Pickford continued. “It's nice to get a song.”
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The tune runs through a dislike for Newcastle United and Liverpool and ends with the conclusion the England number one is “dynamite”. The 31-year-old admits he has caught himself singing it and that his son Arlo, himself a budding goalkeeper, knows it “off by heart”.
Pickford’s song is the latest to take off in an away end that has powered Everton to some impressive wins under David Moyes. Since his return to the dugout, huge victories have been sealed at Brighton and Hove Albion, Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest.
Then came the comeback win at Craven Cottage under the west London sunshine, three points inspired by the party that started in the travelling section at around 2.30pm and continued for nearly three hours.
Pickford deserved every decibel that resonated through a stadium that has been the scene of some of his most impressive saves. There was nothing he could do to keep out Raul Jimenez’s thumping header but he kept Everton in the game by scrambling across his goal to push an effort by Harry Wilson around the post. He then added to his wonderful reflex save to deny Willian there 18 months ago with a superb, momentum defying stop from Wilson with the game in the balance in the second half.
Wilson had tried to lob him with a clever dipping half volley but Pickford scrambled and, as he fell backwards, somehow pushed the ball away from goal.
Re-living the save at Finch Farm this week, he said: “I was a little bit out of position, so I knew I had to recover into the goal, but when I went out there I thought: ‘He's not going to do it, is he?’ Then straight away I saw him taking a touch and going, so I scrambled and just had to get up, there was just timing on my jump, and made a good save.”
The stop almost came at a cost - he needed treatment after landing awkwardly on his shoulder. His reaction was no exaggeration, he insisted: “It was just killing me. I felt sick. I thought my golf season was over.”
Fortunately, the pain soon dissipated. It means he will be part of the era-ending farewell to Goodison Park for the senior men’s Everton team on Sunday, against Southampton. The recovery also means he will be able to carry out his matchday ritual of acknowledging a familiar face in the crowd, one not in the box occupied by his friends and family.
“There is a woman who is an Everton fan”, he says as he reflects on a touching friendship. “She lives up Newcastle way, she’s called Cath. When I’ve been up home I play golf at Close House and she’s a member. Every home game when I come out the tunnel, she always sits by the goal. I always wave at Cath. It is one of the first things I do when I go down the Gwladys Street.”
It is the type of personal touch that is a reminder Pickford, whose international exploits have taken England to the final of two European Championships, is human. That can be easy to forget given the heroics he has performed for the club that took him from Sunderland all those years ago.
No player has done more than him to protect Everton’s top flight status over recent years of chaos. His save from Chelsea’s Cesar Azpilicueta three years ago was hailed by then manager Frank Lampard as the greatest of the Premier League era. It secured the win that prompted Everton’s survival-clinching run that season.
Twelve months later his penalty save from James Maddison prevented Leicester City from opening up a two-goal lead in a relegation six-pointer in the final weeks of that campaign. Alex Iwobi later scored to earn a point that kept Everton’s fate in the club’s control. There have been countless other big moments, including the oft-forgotten second half stop from Jean-Philippe Mateta in the remarkable 3-2 win over Palace that secured safety in the final week of the 2022/23 season. Had that gone in, it would have cut short what went on to become one of the great Premier League comeback wins.
That Palace game stands out for Pickford. Looking back as he thought ahead to Sunday and the last game competitive game he will play at the Grand Old Lady before the club moves to its new waterfront stadium, he said: “To manage to get the result the game before going to Arsenal, especially after going two goals down in the first half and then scoring three, was incredible.
“That was one of the best games I have played in. Dele came on at half-time and changed the game. I’ve always said that. Dele’s performance in the second half… You can’t take the goals away from the lads, but Dele came on and changed the game.”
Asked what he would miss once the club moves home, he said: “I think just the history of the place. Playing in such an historic stadium. Unfortunately, we’ve not won any silverware during my time, but the history goes back such a long way, and once I had been here for a while I started getting a few Evertonians as friends.
“Sagey [Tony Sage] the kit man goes back decades. He’s only in his 50s but you’d think he was 100 with all the history he knows… It’s been tough the last few years. Our history has been about surviving relegation, to be honest.
“I thrive off pressure. That’s when I’m at my best. But the new stadium is another chapter of Everton’s history and we can create our own history when we move. It’s going to be a sad day leaving Goodison but the flip side is that we are moving to one of the best stadiums I’ve seen.”
Before that new start is Southampton and one more dance at Goodison. And while Everton confirmed safety a long time ago, Pickford said the players know what is at stake. He said: “We'll be playing for the memory to go down as winning the last home game at Goodison. That is massive for us.”