Pope under the grill: Newcastle United goalkeeper wins surprising online poll

Nick Pope trended on Twitter after a Newcastle fan page hijacked a Burger King poll asking people what their preferred addition to a burger would be.

Nick Pope (Adam Davy/PA) (PA Wire)

The goalkeeper of Newcastle United sparked amusement on Twitter after fans of the football club hijacked a Burger King poll asking what people preferred on their burger, with Nick Pope being named the surprise winner.

Newcastle fan page Toon Polls hijacked an online survey by the burger chain which asked its followers to decide between tomato or gherkin as the best addition to a burger – but the comments under the poll soon ignored the vegetable options and started to focus on the Toon keeper instead.

The fast food restaurant eventually joined in the fun and crowned 30-year-old Pope their winner.

Newcastle posted “Nick Pope” with a crown emoji next to it to mimic the Burger King logo on their official account.

Pope himself even took part, with his tweet of his name generating more than 36,000 likes.

The post generated an array of reactions, with Burger King adding that a “Nick Pope meal is coming soon”, while homewares shop Dunelm tweeted a play on his name, “Nick Pope Pourri”, above an image of a bowl of pot pourri, and pizza chain Domino’s writing “Nick Poperoni”.

The scene from the Lionesses’ final match in the Women’s Euros, where Alessia Russo can be seen trying to read a piece of paper given to German player Sara Doorsoun-Khajeh, also made an appearance on the thread.

A doctored close-up of the paper revealed the name Nick Pope written in black.

Other people posted pictures of themselves or their children meeting the footballer, who appeared to be delighted that they got a glimpse of the star “pre-fame”.