Jordan Pickford believes that Everton must look to themselves as an entire club to ensure they’re not left desperately scrapping at the foot of the Premier League ever again.
The England keeper produced a fine save at the end of a tense relegation decider on Sunday that could prove absolutely vital to the future of the Goodison outfit, after a second successive last-gasp escape.
Yet he insisted he’s no hero, declaring the Blues simply shouldn’t have been in such dire circumstances in the first place. And now he says it’s time for an entirely fresh perspective from the top to the bottom of the club, to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
"We need to dress it down as a club, as players and staff, as the whole collective; we need to see a way to come forward and not be in this situation again,” he said. “Twice in two years is not ideal, and yes it shows character, but we should never be in this situation anyway.
“Throughout the course of the season, the results and points we have dropped against teams who have come to our patch and taken three points against us, we should never be in this position.”
Pickford is now one of the senior players at Goodison, and he has seen a decline in recent seasons, with the club flirting with relegation in three of the last four seasons. That is a devastating position for a proud football team that has enjoyed 70 years of unbroken presence in the top flight of the English game, with only Arsenal boasting a better record.
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And the keeper wants things to change, both on and off the pitch. Asked what must be done to reverse the decline, he said: “It is not my decision. All I can do is try my best, help my team-mates out.
“All we can do as a bunch of players is give 100 per cent every time we go on that training pitch and realise we are playing for a massive club and what ability we have got as individuals to help the team out. Because I think if we believe in that a little bit more, we will give ourselves a better chance.”
Pickford also believes the club’s passionate fans can play a big part in Everton’s renewal, after what seems like three or four years of discontent with the direction of the club.
"The fans were brilliant today,” he said after the seismic victory over Bournemouth which guaranteed survival. “Massive support from the fans. But next season they have got to be behind us all the way, which I know they are. We have got to get that passion together and keep pushing forward.
“We also need to be realistic to see where we have been in the last couple of years. We, as a bunch of players, didn’t want to be the team that took Everton Football Club down into the Championship, so we have got work on our hands next season, all of us.”
