Nick Pope was one of Burnley's top players in his 0-1 win against West Ham United. Although Jay Rodríguez was the one who scored the winning goal, the goalkeeper was key to keeping the goal to zero. Soham's got his fourteenth goal to zero so far this season and overtook Alisson, Liverpool keeper, as the Premier League Gold Glove. A few years ago, none of this seemed close or likely.
In an interview with Daily Mail, the doorman explains how his beginnings were. Since he was rejected at the Ipswich Town academy at the age of 16 and his journey through the English lower divisions, making football compatible with his studies and several part-time jobs as a clerk in Next or delivering milk at dawn in a company of his cousin. “They were weird jobs that I got”, he recognizes and that they helped him to buy his first car: a Citroen C2 “in Ferrari red” as explained in this newspaper.
When Ipswich cut him off at his academy, Pope did not give up although he evaluated other paths playing in the Bury Town reserve, chaining part-time jobs and studying on the way to University. “There is something in the back of your mind that tells you that it is possible but 90% thought it was already unlikely,” they admit.
At that moment, a scout from the Charlton invited him to try and ended up signing for them and everything started to run. The club could not find a place for him and they began transfers, transfers and more transfers. Harrow Borough, Welling, Cambridge United, Aldershot Town, York City and Bury only between 2011 and 2015. At the end of the campaign in 2016, the Burnley bought him for just over a million euros.
The dream was closer but it was definitely fulfilled when he had to go out to replace Tom Heaton in a match against Crystal Palace. “I remember going out the door and staying for a moment to breathe and think about it. “After all, this is where you wanted to be. In a real Premier League game.” They taught me to go full throttle and I tried. Not waiting for things to come to me. Get out from under the goal, go out to a ball that reaches my field. I wanted to show that it was my day, “he says.
He took control of the goal of the Burnley and now, for him, getting the Golden Glove would be a prize for the group more than for his performances. “Our team is not a big one and it's not in the top six generally. For us, winning it would be incredible, as a prize to the ten who don't stop running as if their life depended on it, “he explains.
Pope, who has made his debut with the absolute, has this award between eyebrows and also the Euro Cup 2021, which he wants to enjoy from the grass.