Jordan Pickford can go on to be considered an Everton great and he’s already saved the club from “a hell of a mess”.
That’s the verdict of Blues superfan Dr David France. The Widnes-born former oil and gas executive sold his 10,000-item collection of Everton memorabilia to the club at a heavily discounted price so it could be kept for posterity while also founding the Everton Former Players’ Foundation to raise money for the physical and pastoral care of ex-professionals who have represented the club.
Another initiative conceived by Dr France and inaugurated in 1996 is Gwladys Street’s Hall of Fame, which celebrates the men who have contributed to the history of Everton, and ahead of the historic first Merseyside Derby at Hill Dickinson Stadium, the 77-year-old reckons that Pickford has the potential to rub shoulders with Goodison Park greats of the past.
Asked on the Royal Blue podcast who he has enjoyed watching in David Moyes’ current team, Dr France told the ECHO: “It comes down to one person, Jordan Pickford. I think he’s top-class.
“We’ve got six saviours at this club. We can go back to Abdoulaye Doucoure’s goal against Bournemouth, Gareth Farrelly against Coventry, Graham Stuart and Barry Horne against Wimbledon, plus their keeper, Hans Segers, but we don’t talk about that one.
“I think the most important [one] is Jordan’s save against Bournemouth. If he’d made a mess of that, which others could have done, we’d have gone down and we’d have been in a hell of a mess.
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“Who knows where we’d be. We’re in debt to him. I enjoy watching him – all goalkeepers are nutters, they’re special aren’t they?
“He’s more special than some. We’ve had some great goalkeepers, we had Neville Southall and Gordon West.
“Sometimes we keep them for too long. Tim Howard was the same. His last years at the club. We're not clinical enough in moving them on. We’re too sentimental.
“I remember Howard Kendall said to me once about the big Welshman that he’d lost his bounce, his spring. He was a great goalkeeper, one of the best we’ve ever had, and some say the best in the world, but you’ve got to be ruthless.”
When it comes to Pickford not getting the praise he deserves from those outside the Everton bubble, Dr France concurs and reckons this summer could be the key to the 32-year-old forging his reputation. He said: “I hope he gets over a hundred caps and I hope we win something with him. People say he lets down Everton and he lets down England.
“I think apart from that mistake he made at Anfield when Divock Origi scored, outside of that, he’s been very reliable. I’m not saying Jordan is world class, but he’s up there.
“Post-war, we’ve not had many world-class players. Who is there? Alan Ball, Neville Southall, Ray Wilson, Wayne Rooney, Gary Lineker maybe?
“I would hope that one day, Jordan is regarded like them. If he has a good World Cup, that could make a big difference.”
Another player Dr France likes among the current crop at Everton is James Tarkowski. Given that club captain Seamus Coleman seldom plays these days, the centre-back usually wears the armband and is the Blues’ de facto leader on the pitch.
Dr France said: “I think James Tarkowski is a great influence at the club. I think the day when he gets too old, and I don’t think that’s now, we’ll miss him.
“He’ll be very difficult to replace. He reminds me of a bouncer, he looks after everyone.
“He’s a warrior. I called him a bouncer, that’s very unfair, he’s a champion, he’s the guy you want in your corner.
“He’ll never let you down. You need that in a team, you need that in any organisation, somebody like that.”