On this day in 2016, goalkeeper Jordan Pickford made his debut for Sunderland away to Arsenal in the FA Cup third round.
Pickford’s career began with us when he was just a child after signing for the Academy at the age of 8 years old. He was playing and training with people older than him and managed to still stand out from the crowd. He was awarded a professional contract with us in 2011.
He spent the 2013/14 season on loan in League Two, with Burton Albion and Carlisle United. After a brief two weeks with Burton he was recalled after not making many appearances. A few months later he was back at Burton, but once again recalled. He then spent 11 matches on the bench for Sunderland as a backup to Vito Mannone. There, he could get a taste of the matchday atmosphere at the Stadium Of Light.
The 14/15 season gave Jordan a lot of experience of the highs and lows in football. Starting the season out in League One, again another step up in competition, he began to cement his place as the number one choice for Bradford City. Halfway through the season Pickford recorded his first ever professional red card against Rochdale in a 2-1 loss. A month later he went on to receive another red card in the final minutes of a 2-2 draw against Port Vale. However, Bradford appealed the decision and he didn’t serve any suspension.
Pickford started his next campaign at Championship side Preston North End. In his first game for Preston he managed to keep a clean sheet against Middlesbrough in a 0-0 draw. On the 7th of November he equalled a club record of six consecutive clean sheets, including one against Premier League club Watford in the League Cup. He was starting to impose his style of play and managed to impress his teammates in the process, as his goalkeeping teammate Chris Kirkland was impressed, saying that “Jordan comes out to take crosses and has an authority for someone still very young... As for his kicking, that is brilliant! I have never seen anyone kick a ball like he does.”
In January 2016, he was recalled to us as we sat 19th in the Premier League, eyeing another relegation battle. After his league debut against Spurs, he had now played in each of the top 5 leagues of English football and he was only 21. Shortly after, he signed a contract extension with us until 2020.
In what would be his final season for us he began as second choice, but after an injury to Mannone he was moved into the starting role in the third game of the season. He spent the entire campaign wearing his heart on his sleeve impressing clubs higher up in the table, with the likes of Arsenal, Manchester City, and obviously Everton rumoured to be interested.
Relive some of his best moments of the season with us here...
He was amongst the top keepers in the league in certain aspects of his game, including highest save percentage, most saves, most saves inside the box and most punches. He finished the season on the shortlist for the PFA Young Player Of The Season Award which was ultimately awarded to Leroy Sane. Then, in June his time in red and white was up, after completing the £25 million move to Everton.
Since his departure, Pickford has been the hero for England in international tournaments. He was outstanding for England at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups and 2020 and 2024 Euros. He managed to etch his name in history after breaking the record set by Gordon Banks for the most consecutive scoreless minutes as a goalkeeper for England. He also recorded the most clean sheets in the 2020 tournament with five, but wasn’t awarded with a Golden Glove award as one isn’t given out for the Euros. He of course saved penalties in shootouts in both the 2018 World Cup and 2024 Euros to see England progress to the quarter finals and semi finals respectively and did all he could in the Euro 2020 final shootout, with England ultimately being undone by their own misses.
In February 2023, Pickford signed a contract extension with Everton. At first that was quite surprising to me, as I thought he was nailed on to sign for someone like Spurs or Manchester United. Now at the age of thirty, he is just one appearance away from his 300th for the Toffees at the time of writing.
