Jordan Pickford fight sparked by Everton star’s fiancée being called a ‘fat c**t’ Exclusive: Taunts persisted all day but violence finally erupted late in the evening when Pickford’s fiancée Megan Davison was targeted

Jordan Pickford was eventually provoked into the violent scenes which erupted outside a Sunderland bar after his antagonisers called his fiancée a “fat c**t”, i can reveal.

Witnesses have explained how a group of people had been goading the Everton and England goalkeeper all afternoon but that he finally erupted late in the evening when the abhorrent abuse was levelled at his fiancée, Megan Davison.

Pickford was given permission to return to the North-east, where he grew up in Washington, after Everton’s 2-0 Premier League win against West Ham in London on Saturday night. He had initially planned to watch the Checkatrade Trophy final between boyhood club Sunderland – whom he joined as a youth player aged eight and played for six years years before moving for a world record £30m fee to Everton in 2017, against Portsmouth in the capital, but changed his plans to spend Mother’s Day back home with his and his fiancée’s families.

Sickening insult

Video footage, which emerged on social media on Monday, showed Pickford being subjected to shouts of “small arms” and “butter fingers” earlier in the day, taunts which he attempted to take in good spirits and laugh off as he posed for pictures with fans, but it turned nastier much later when witnesses say that the insult was aimed at his fiancée.

Read more: What Jordan Pickford can learn from Steven Gerrard about life in the public eye

Pickford and Davison are childhood sweethearts, having met at school as teenagers, and currently live together on Merseyside. They got engaged early last year.

Pickford, 25, has previously spoken about his enjoyment at being cast into the spotlight since he became England’s No 1 goalkeeper and reached the World Cup third-place play-off in Russia last summer. But questions have been asked as to why he chose to go out in Sunderland where he was likely to expect provocation from Newcastle United fans.

Figures around the England camp often speak highly of the player and others who have known him for a long time talk of a player who has little time for much else beyond football and family.

Police investigating

Northumbria Police said they received a report at 12.19am on Monday morning of a scuffle between a large group of people on Tunstall Road, in Sunderland. No arrests were made but the police said their inquiries remain ongoing and they appealed for anyone to come forward with any information.

An off-duty bouncer is said to have been left with a black eye after he stepped in to try to calm Pickford down as the situation got out of hand. Pickford was dragged from the scene and put into a taxi to take him home before the police arrived on the scene.

Everton are also investigating the incident, saying in a statement: “The club has been made aware of an alleged incident involving one of our players and we are looking into the matter.”

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By Sam Cunningham, i football correspondent