Jordan Pickford had two advantages during the penalty shoot-out against Switzerland on Saturday. The first — preparation — had been honed by the whole England camp since the side’s loss against Italy in the Euro 2020 final.
A cheat-sheet taped to Pickford’s water bottle named all the potential Swiss penalty-takers and how previous match data dictated he should react.
Sports psychology, likewise, helped Pickford assert control over the uncontrollable. He took his time to get on his line, waiting for the penalty taker to look at the open goal before he stood in it, stretching up to the crossbar to exaggerate his size once in position.
Yet the second advantage Pickford had, while standing on the goalline in Dusseldorf, was confidence.
“He thrives in the penalty situation. Just look at his mannerisms as he’s playing, he’s confident every time he faces a penalty,” said Alan Fisher, a former PE teacher at St Robert of Newminster, a large Catholic school in Washington, which Pickford attended from Year 7 to 11.
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“His fiery personality definitely comes out, I think that’s what you need as a goalkeeper to save a ball really, you’ve got to have that ‘Come on, bring it on’ attitude.”
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According to Fisher, that attitude was not learned, but rather an innate audacity Pickford has had since childhood. “He was very confident. He was one of those boys who went to the front of the dinner queue,” Fisher said.
Pickford, 30, was born in Washington, Tyne and Wear, less than ten miles from Sunderland’s home ground, the Stadium of Light. His parents Lee, a builder, and Sue, a school administrator, raised him and his older brother Richard as Sunderland fanatics.
At home Pickford was football mad, diving on to concrete surfaces to save Richard’s shots and joining the Sunderland academy aged only eight. At school he was “an all round sports person”, excelling in cross country, cricket and studying GCSE PE.
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“He was a likely lad, a typical boy, he probably put his sport before his studies every now and then but that’s usual,” Fisher said. “It worked well for him because his mum was at the school at the same time, so that did help in terms of keeping him on the straight and narrow.”
With Pickford on the team, at first outfield, the school side did well locally and regionally, Fisher said.
“Jordan got the nickname Speedy. You can see it in his goalkeeping, he’s very explosive, very much on top of things quickly,” he said, adding that Pickford would be capable of taking a penalty himself if needed.
“He had a winning mentality, definitely, from a young age. Again, many young boys have that fiery personality … but he had that little bit of an edge to want to be better than the people around him or the other team.”
Fisher described how Pickford became more humble as he matured and would never brag about his football, even when he started representing England at U16.
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He had a tight friendship group at school that he remains close with, Fisher said, noting how Pickford went on to marry fellow St Roberts student Megan Davison, with whom he now shares two children.
“You’ve seen bits and bobs of how he’s played throughout the years and you’ve seen little moments when he’s lost it a little bit but now he’s one of the senior members of the team,” Fisher said.
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For those who have watched Pickford celebrate his saves — or reprimand his teammates — “lost it a little bit” seems diplomatic. On YouTube, compilations of him swearing red-faced have hundreds of thousands of views, on TikTok, a quick search of his name suggests “Jordan Pickford anger issues”.
Mark Prudhoe, a goalkeeper coach, who started coaching Pickford at Sunderland Academy in 2002, remembered an U18s game against Blackburn. “He made a treble save and he mouthed off a little bit and put a few swear words in there,” he said. “I didn’t mind at all because it was breathtaking two of the saves and just incredible that he saved the third one. Of course Mr Ball was there and he did not like him swearing.”
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Kevin Ball, a former England player and Sunderland star who Pickford had once asked for an autograph, went on to be his coach at Sunderland Academy.
The pair’s relationship was “hot and cold”, Prudhoe said. “Bally was the most disciplined human being you’ve ever seen in your life and on the other side of it there was Jordy who loved to have a laugh, loves to do what he wants to do. There was conflict but they loved each other because Bally was the king man at Sunderland football club and I think that’s what Jordan needed at the time as a young goalkeeper coming in to learn his profession.”
Prudhoe said he saw similarities in Pickford and David Seaman, a former England goalkeeper who he had played with at Birmingham City. “David was the same, he had an arrogance, a confidence. Where on earth do you get that from?” Prudhoe said. “I think all these big players sometimes get wronged for being confident, and I think whatever makes them walk on that pitch just let them do it.”
He said goalkeepers in particular need a self belief to “back themselves all the time”, as the weight of the number one on their back is “massive”.
Throughout his career Pickford has benefited from having many different goalkeeping coaches — due to what Prudhoe called Sunderland’s “horrific” changeover of management — whose advice he has been able to blend together along the way.
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“He’s still got that sharpness, he’s still got that gift, that absolute stupid speed,” Prudhoe said. “Jordan’s always been able to improvise from a young age. He wouldn’t be bothered if he saved it with his ear, with his nostril, he would get in the way of the ball. He used to say, ‘It’s just a bag of air’.”
