“He hates it, he absolutely hates it… but genuinely hates it, though.”
Jermaine Beckford is recalling Jordan Pickford’s reaction to conceding a goal. In training.
The former Everton striker was a teammate of the current Blues number one for five months in 2015 when the keeper was on loan from Sunderland at Beckford’s then club Preston North End.
“He hated it so much, it gave me more pleasure [than normal] when I scored,” the 34-year-old remembers. “There will always will be a rivalry between goalkeepers and strikers because their roles are the complete opposite and that makes you push yourself that little bit further and little bit harder.
“I’d like to think I had a huge contributing factor in Jordan getting an England call-up. If you’re reading this Jordan, you’re welcome!”
That his younger teammate would eventually kick on from those private battles at Preston’s Springfields training ground to bigger and better things, Beckford was never in doubt.
You would forgive him for perhaps not foreseeing Pickford becoming the most expensive British goalkeeper of all time, a World Cup semi-finalist and national hero all within three years but the potential for greatness, he says, was apparent from the moment a “very determined, very strong-minded” then 21-year-old rocked up at Deepdale.
“When you train with the guy and you see him day in and day out and you see how aggressive he is in training in terms of what he does, the way he looks after his body, his distribution, his reactions and reflexes, he’s very, very, very good and it was only a matter of time before he broke into the England squad.
“I didn’t think he would make this World Cup squad as number one. I had a feeling he’d be included but I thought it was too soon for him [to play]. I was obviously proven wrong because he’s been England’s best player by a million miles. He’s been fantastic.
“He’s a very, very good goalkeeper and will go on to have an amazing career. He’ll be playing for a long, long time and he’s going to break records, I’m quietly confident about that.
“The talent he’s got, nobody can doubt it.”
These days Beckford is on the books at Everton’s next pre-season opponents, Bury.
Coming off the back of an injury-hit final season with Preston in 2016/17, the six-cap Jamaica international plundered eight goals in his first 16 appearances for the Shakers before disaster struck.
“It was just one of those things that came on as part of getting older in football, which is an absolute nightmare. You don’t feel like your body is getting older but all of a sudden it catches up on you and you find yourself in a situation where you can’t really do anything about it.
"It wasn’t an impact injury or anything like that, it was just one of them things. I’m not far off now and I’m going to come back fitter and stronger. It’s just about taking one step and one day at a time.”
In his absence, Beckford could only watch on as Bury slipped through the League One trap door, their relegation to the fourth tier confirmed in mid-April when they lost for a seventh successive match against Northampton Town, another side who would ultimately succumb to the drop.
“It was hugely frustrating,” says Beckford, his pain evident. “At the beginning of the season, if you looked at the squad we had on paper, it was good enough to challenge for the title and to get promoted, which is one of the reasons why I signed.
“But for one reason or another, we had a load of injuries - myself included - and it disrupted the preparation for the actual season. It hindered our progress, which was hugely, hugely frustrating, especially when you’re hoping to be playing in the league above rather than the league below.
“But I’m quite a positive-minded person and I like to think that with the squad we’ve got from last season and the new additions we’ve made, we’ve got enough to push for a promotion challenge this season and hopefully the following year push on from there.”
Bury’s struggles led to the sacking of Lee Clark in October last year, while replacement Chris Lucketti lasted just two months and 10 games in charge.
It led to the appointment of Beckford’s strike partner Ryan Lowe as player-manager until the end of the season, an arrangement that was made permanent in May.
“I still call him Lowey every now and then, though I don’t think I’ve called him it in front of the boys yet, which is a good thing!
“He’s been given a great opportunity and seeing the way the guy works day in and day out, you can see he’s hungry for success, he’s passionate about the club and he knows what it’s about and what the club needs.
“As players, we know that he’s been through it firsthand. He was playing last season so he still has that understanding of what players need, his views haven’t been distorted by any time away from the club and I think that works really well, not only for himself, but the club as well.
“We’ve got a young, hungry manager who’s eager to make things right and get us back to where we need to get to.”
Following defeats against Rangers and Huddersfield Town and a goalless draw with Liverpool, Beckford admits Lowe, a Liverpool fan, will be extra keen for Bury to add a Premier League scalp to their pre-season record on Wednesday.
Unfortunately for Beckford, they will have to do so without him.
But while his position will be up in the stands rather than plotting a way past the resting Pickford’s stand-in, he remains excited to see some familiar faces roll into town.
“To watch us playing Everton and see some of the guys I know as well - some of the players, Jimmy the kitman and all those guys - it will be a surreal moment but a fantastic one nonetheless,” he says.
“We made a few mistakes [against Rangers and Huddersfield] but we’re learning from each game we play and we’re improving game by game, so I’m looking forward to it.
“It [Everton] is a club I’ve got such fond memories from and that means so much to me, so it will be good to have a chat with everybody, catch up and see how everyone’s been doing.”
