Burnley goalkeeper Nick Pope on his meteoric rise: 'I used to play at dodgy grounds where the fans abused me'

  • Burnley goalkeeper Nick Pope was released from Ipswich as a 16-year-old
  • Since then Pope has risen and has starred for Burnley in the Premier League
  • Pope appeared in the team in early September when Tom Heaton was injured
  • He has played eight league games and kept five clean sheets this season

Nick Pope did not think he would be here. He did not think he would be preparing for a Premier League game against Arsenal, did not even think that he would become a professional footballer at all.

However the day the Burnley goalkeeper was released from the Ipswich academy as a 16-year-old was, in hindsight, the day his journey to the top actually began, and if the 25-year-old's winding road to the Premier League proves anything, it is that there is life, and opportunities, outside the system.

'Looking back, it was the best thing that happened — and I had seen it coming,' Pope told Sportsmail. 'I was low on confidence, didn't think I was good enough. I was waiting for the bad news, really. I thought that was it for me, then. I thought it was over.'

Nick Pope did not think  he would be preparing for a Premier League game against Arsenal

Nick Pope did not think he would be preparing for a Premier League game against Arsenal

The Burnley goalkeeper was released from the Ipswich Town academy as a 16-year-old

The Burnley goalkeeper was released from the Ipswich Town academy as a 16-year-old

Pope appeared in the Burnley first team in early September when their England international Tom Heaton injured his shoulder against Crystal Palace.


Heaton had been pivotal to Burnley's success last season and subsequent diagnosis of a long-term absence sounded like a major blow for manager Sean Dyche.

Not so. Pope subsequently played eight league games and kept five clean sheets as Burnley rode a wave of confidence to sit joint fifth in the table.

Pope arrived from Charlton as back-up to Heaton in the summer of 2016 but a look at his CV reveals time spent learning his trade at places like Bury Town in the Isthmian League.

After Ipswich, football was no longer viewed as a potential career for the son of a Suffolk farmer. He went to college and won a provisional place at Nottingham University. As it turned out, the release from the pressure of academy football was just what he needed.

Since then Pope has enjoyed a meteoric rise and has starred for Burnley in the Premier League

Since then Pope has enjoyed a meteoric rise and has starred for Burnley in the Premier League

Pope appeared in the Burnley  team in early September when Tom Heaton injured his shoulder

Pope appeared in the Burnley team in early September when Tom Heaton injured his shoulder

'Being out of the academy system, I didn't really have to think about it,' he said. 'I didn't have to worry about whether I was going to get the next contract or whether I would make it. In my head, it was over and I just started to enjoy my football again.

'I was leaving that system where it's very controlled and high pressure and to come out was actually a breath of fresh air.

'Don't get me wrong, I was devastated, but it gave me a jolt and forced a change in my life and football that I probably needed.

'I went to college and there was a football programme there so I met new people, had new coaches, and it gave me new confidence and enthusiasm to play again.'

Over the next three years, Pope played about 150 games while still presuming his career probably lay in marketing or sports science.

Pope has played eight league games and kept five clean sheets as Burnley rose to seventh

Pope has played eight league games and kept five clean sheets as Burnley rose to seventh

'I can't think of any academy player who'll play that many games,' he said. 'At Bury Town, I was 16 playing men's football. You meet some people. You go to grounds that are not the best with fans behind the goal abusing you, but I quite enjoyed it — it's so far from what you know. At the academy it's parents shouting at their own kids, but no abuse.

'I didn't get brutalised on the pitch, not elbows or anything, although people would say they'd leave one on me. So it does make you grow up quick.

'Just playing with and against men and what they expect, it was just a new level. It's considered to be a level below the academy but it was just what I needed.'

Pope was picked up by Charlton after a trial in 2011 but even then spent time on loan at Harrow, Welling, Cambridge and Aldershot. As recently as May 2015, he was playing for another Bury, this time in League Two.

Against this background, the ease with which he has taken to Premier League football seems even more impressive.

Pope arrived as back-up to Heaton having learned trade at places like non-League Bury Town

Pope arrived as back-up to Heaton having learned trade at places like non-League Bury Town

'I have always trained hard,' he said. 'When your chance comes you have to be ready. Maybe that helped but the lads have really helped me. Arsenal are a big team but that's why you want to play in the Premier League, to play against the big teams.'

Burnley have already won at Chelsea and drawn at Tottenham and Liverpool. They are decried by some as a long-ball team, but last weekend's Jack Cork goal at home to Swansea suggested differently.

'There is probably a bit of a label around the team but we know what we are,' said Pope. 'We might score from a set-piece or we might score with 10 passes.

'It was a good quality goal (v Swansea). If you saw Man City do that then you would have every kind of analysis of it.'

With Heaton not due back for some time, it seems Pope's run is set to continue. He admitted that he does not know what he would have done had Charlton not resurrected his career but rules out a job on the family farm. 'I would have put the crops in the wrong place,' he laughed.

Pope left football for university as a teenager, which he says did him the world of good

Pope left football for university as a teenager, which he says did him the world of good

For now, Pope is happy to have his chance to shine at last. He has already travelled much further than he expected.

'Look at those coming through in the Premier League and probably 99 per cent will have had academy scholarships,' he reflected.

'It is very rare for you to miss that and go on to have a career. It's not that I am not a fan of academies, it just didn't work for me.

'When you are out of professional football, you can only concentrate on your own football at the level you are at. You ask yourself the best way you can make a living on and off the pitch. The thought process is massively different.

'So to come this far is a long journey and something I could never have pictured back then.'

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