Nick Pope interview in the Mail

[Chester Perry]

A decade ago Nick Pope was working in Next after being released by Ipswich... now the Burnley goalkeeper is going all out to pip Alisson to the Golden Glove and could yet be England's No 1 at the Euros
- 10 years ago, Nick Pope took a job at Next after being released by Ipswich Town
- Now, the Burnley goalkeeper is in the running for Premier League golden glove
- Pope is also a contender to be England's first-choice keeper at next year's Euros
- The 28-year-old revisited his journey to the Premier League through the ranks
By IAN HERBERT FOR THE DAILY MAIL

PUBLISHED: 22:30, 10 July 2020 | UPDATED: 22:40, 10 July 2020

A Facebook Memory popped up on Nick Pope's phone the other day to remind the Burnley goalkeeper - who tops the Premier League Golden Glove table and has staked a very strong claim to be England's first choice goalkeeper at next summer's European Championships - just how far he's travelled in ten extraordinary years.

The message told him he'd been working on the summer sales in a branch of Next near Ipswich a decade ago - one of a collection of part-time number of jobs at the time which also included helping out with his cousin's milk delivery business at an unearthly hour.

'Odd bits I could get hold of,' Pope relates, grinning at the thought of a time when he was getting £25 to sit on the bench for a side in Essex and Suffolk Border League and had just saved enough to buy his first car: a Citroen C2, in Ferrari Red.

'Postman Pat Red, more like,' he relates. 'It was 1.1 litre so I could do less my damage to myself - that was thinking behind it. That first burst of freedom when you've passed your driving test. All part of the fun!'

The hundreds of academy players who will be told this month that they have not made the cut should know that this world Pope describes can still be theirs.

He was one of them at the age of 16: dumped back into the real world after six years in that hothouse environment when Ipswich rejected him. 'At the time you are devastated,' he says on a Zoom call from his south Manchester home the day after his 15th clean sheet of the season at West Ham has taken him ahead of Liverpool's Alisson in the Premier League Golden Glove rankings. 'But however they dressed it up for me, I wasn't good enough.'

What ensued demonstrates what can flows when you can free your mind from anxiety.

Pope became so rapidly immersed in an everyday life of friends, laughs, 150 games in goal for Bury Town reserves, essays for West Suffolk College, jobs and the offer of a place at Nottingham Trent University that he'd all but given up on making a living from football.

'It was there a little bit in the back of my mind but 90 per cent you're thinking it's unlikely,' he says. 'The ship's kind of sailed. It's really rare that people go that route and make their way back into the professional game. I was just looking at other avenues.'

Even when Charlton Athletic scout Phil Chappell had spotted him in 2016, prompting the League One club to ask him in and spend time with goalkeeping coach Lee Turner, it was not a matter of life or death. 'I went with it with no fear,' he says. 'I'd already committed to another path. If it worked, it worked.'

Cast a glance through the long list of clubs Charlton subsequently sent Pope out on loan to and you imagine that the east London years must have another form of purgatory. Harrow Borough, Welling United, Cambridge United, Aldershot Town, York City, Bury.

Pope played for three clubs in 2013. Yet he actively sought all of this. 'I was desperate to get out on loan,' he says. 'It was always about trying to prove myself at that level and then a team would take me at the next level. If you do well at Conference South level you're not massively knocking on the door of a League One side.

'If the loan doesn't go well in League you're looking downwards then. Your next loan might be in the Conference or Charlton might let you go. It's a massive thing.'

There were a few inauspicious moments. A five-week spell at Aldershot, with the two-hour rush hour commute from home and three goals conceded in three of his five games. Agony at getting under a high ball to hand Accrington a 90th-minute equaliser as York chased a play-off place in April 2014.

But the benefits of that road not taken with Ipswich are actually overwhelming. Above all, Pope learned how not to fear mistakes and how to maintain equilibrium.

'You might be playing on a mud bats with three people watching and the ball's being chucked in the box from the half way line,' he says. 'Where every team's got a long throw, the ball's coming in your box, coming in your box, again and again. And there's me, a young gangly teenager.

'Or there's academy football where it's pass, pass, pass, sideways, short corners, free kicks short, no-ones got a long throw. I found an environment you just don't have in academy football.

'Lee Turner at Charlton also used to talk about having a middle line - a central point - about feeling and life. However good things get on the pitch off the pitch, always keep that central calmness sand reality.

'However bad things seem, you've got to keep close to that middle line. It's probably not as bad as you think and not as good as you think. If you live and think that way the tremors and the roller coaster are small, calmer. There are fewer up and downs, which for a goalkeeper is really useful.'

A fastidious interest in watching other goalkeepers has also helped. Pope's instinctive saves with his feet at West Ham in midweek, part of another huge defensive display, were resonant of Peter Schmeichel, with whom one of Pope's first coaches compares him.

'I've seen a little bit of him on video,' Pope says. Bigger influences for him have been Petr Cech in Chelsea's 2003/04 season when Jose Mourinho had just arrived. 'Learning how he used his body, different positions he would take up, different techniques.' Also, Pepe Reina and David Seaman.

Sean Dyche has formed a part his technical development, too. 'He's drilled into us and me that a goalkeeper can change the tempo and feel of a match, through a kick or a catch and throw,' Pope says. 'A game might be static and slow and you can change the evolution it from a dead ball.'

Even his arrival in the Premier League for Burnley - after Tom Heaton was injured 36 minutes into a home game in which a desperate Crystal Palace sought an equaliser - brought unusual challenges.

'I remember kicking the ball up-field soon after I'd come on and being left for a moment to take a deep breath and think about it,' he says. 'I told myself, "after all that time, this is where you wanted to be.

'This is the stage you wanted to be on. On TV in a Premier League game match for real." I'd always been taught from going out on loans, to have a positive impact. Not to sit back and let the game come to me. Come off my line.

'Deal with a through ball outside my box. I wanted to show people that I belonged, that day. And a little bit of it was putting the mask on.' Burnley won 1-0.

The 28-year-old's discussion of the golden glove award - and whether he might depose Alisson - is notable for the 'we', rather than the 'I' he employs. 'Our team are not big hitters and not generally a top six team,' Pope says.

'For us to take home the Golden Glove would be incredible - as something for the effort that goes into it from the ten lads who are running and running and running like you wouldn't believe. Like their life depended on it.

'I'm also well aware that I've played more games than Alisson this season but I don't think that counts in the Golden Glove table! (Pope has played 34 league games this season, against Alisson's 25.)

There was a time, just before Alisson joined the club two years ago, when reports were circulating of Liverpool's interest in Pope - who made his first Premier League start in Burnley's 1-1 draw at Anfield, in September 2017. 'I was aware of the paper talk,' he says. 'I'd have someone sending me a link on WhatsApp every other day! Nothing more came of it. I think they picked a good one in the end anyway!'

Winning the league's goalkeeping prize would certainly be a statement of intent where dislodging Jordan Pickford as England No 1 is concerned, though Pope too diplomatic to say so. Next summer's Euros also still feel like an eternity away, he says.

'I would love to see how many caps I can get, he says. 'I'm never going to be one who can get 50 or 60, because of my age. But getting as many as I can is a motivator. Another massive ambition of mine is to play at Wembley. At York we lost a play-off semi-final, when Tottenham were there I was injured and my England debut was at Elland Road! It's something that's just escaped me so far. I'd love to play there.'

[HunterST_BFC]

What a nice piece.
He's a good fella alright.

[depechedingle]

Like so many of our squad, very grounded.

Good read, Thanks Chester

[bobinho]

Great read. Shame the “glove” isn’t awarded on an adjusted basis. Playing 11 more games is hardly fair, but this is the EPL, nothings fair, even the interpretation of the rules.

I remember Pope coming on in that match very well. I also remember the CFS getting right behind him straight away with “nick pope, in the middle of our goal” chants. That was proper support for a lad we didn’t know much about, who’d just taken the place of a fan favourite. I remember being very pleased with that.

[GodIsADeeJay81]

Nice interview.

I remember being very nervous when Heaton went off injured.
Can't imagine why I was so concerned about the new lad taking his place

[Murger]

Cracking save from a Benteke strike aswell.

[warksclaret]

It shows there is a lot of genuinely nice guys in our game. Those that come to Burnley have the benefit of SD keeping their feet on the floor, and develop through the team bonding. A very likeable member of our team, and quite rightly so

[mdd2]

Cracking save from a Benteke strike aswell.

Not as good as his penalty save against Leicester this season which was the beginning of this present run of form.

[claretblue]

10 years ago, Nick Pope took a job at Next after being released by Ipswich Town

Now Nick's the next England keeper!

clean sheets all round!

[Stayingup]

An itelligent level headed guy.

Thank you Chester for this.

[MACCA]

Great read. Shame the “glove” isn’t awarded on an adjusted basis. Playing 11 more games is hardly fair, but this is the EPL, nothings fair, even the interpretation of the rules.

But then you would get people saying the same about the golden boots and all other stats.

Maybe part of the accolade is you've also remained fit, avoided suspensions and being dropped etc.

Anyway, lovely piece.
Remember seeing him at Bradford for pre season many moons ago, he stayed and signed every autograph, posed for every picture and had a chat to anyone who wanted. Certainly remembers where he's come from and was lapping up every last bit.
Top pro.

[tim_noone]

Not as good as his penalty save against Leicester this season which was the beginning of this present run of form.

Said it myself.....From Vardy to.turned our season round!!

[bobinho]

Whilst I understand what you are saying, I think the two awards aren’t really comparable for obvious reasons. Scoring 30 goals in 20 games is deserving of the award, having 15 clean sheets in 20 games isnt in the same league as having 15 clean sheets in 31 games. They are at opposite ends of the scale to me.

[Bosscat]

Great interview with a great lad ... who shows his class on and off the football field

[bfcjg]

Genuinely nice level headed guy, I notice he shouts at defenders more as well.

[kentonclaret]

Also in Saturday's Mail, and on the opposite page to the Nick Pope interview, is another piece entitled "Ahead of the Game" written by Matt Hughes where he highlights the parsimony of Burnley chairman Mike Garlick which is becoming a major source of tension between the chairman and manager Sean Dyche.

The short article states that Mike Garlick is determined to keep a firm control of the wage bill and that he is playing hardball in contract negotiations with academy players "Promising striker Max Thompson is yet to sign a new deal with Burnley and his representatives are understood to be haggling over a few hundred pounds a week.'

[IanMcL]

Negotiations are negotiations.

[Rowls]

Anyone who doesn't think Nick Pope is England's no.1 after today is delusional.

[Aclaret]

If Pickford is in the team for the next England game Pope must be out injured.