Thomas John Pope (born 27 August 1985) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

centre forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

for side Congleton Town. A

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

Academy An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

graduate, he turned professional with the club in 2005 after impressing at non-league side Biddulph Victoria in 2004–05. He was loaned out to

Conference North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

sides

Lancaster City Lancaster City Football Club is an English semi-professional non-League football club based in the northern city of Lancaster, Lancashire. They currently compete in and play at Giant Axe. They are full members of the Lancashire County Footb ...

and Stafford Rangers in 2005–06, before he spent 2006–07 on loan at Barrow, also of the Conference North. He established himself in the Crewe first team picture in 2007–08, before becoming the club's top scorer in 2008–09 with ten

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

goals. He became

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

's joint-record signing when he made a £150,000 move to the Yorkshire club in June 2009. He scored five goals in the 2009–10 campaign, before he was loaned out to

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

in January 2011. The loan was made permanent in time for the start of the 2011–12 season. He scored 33 goals and was voted League Two Player of the Year as he helped the club to secure promotion out of

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

in 2012–13. He was voted Port Vale's Player of the Year in 2013 and 2014. He signed with

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

in June 2015, and remained with the club for two seasons before rejoining Port Vale. He claimed the club's Player of the Year award for a record third time in 2018 and the following year he became the second highest goalscorer in the club's history. He scored 115 goals in 343 league and cup appearances before leaving the club in May 2021. He was released at the end of the 2020–21 season and went on to play for Congleton Town.

Career

Crewe Alexandra

Pope was a part of Crewe Alexandra Youth Academy, but was not offered a professional contract with the club. He instead was forced to make his name in the

Midland Football Alliance The Midland Football Alliance was an English association football league for semi-professional teams. It covered Leicestershire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands, Worcestershire and also southern parts of Derbyshire and Not ...

with Biddulph Victoria after coming through the Hanley Town under-18 side to find first team football. He also played

Sunday league football Sunday league football is a term used in Britain and Ireland to describe the amateur association football competitions which take place on Sunday rather than the more usual Saturday. The term pub league may also be used, owing to the number of ...

for Sneyd, and scored four goals for the club as they beat the Butcher's Arms 6–4 in the 2004 final of the Potteries and District Sunday League Cup final. During this time the teenager found work as a window-fitter. He scored fifteen goals in his first season with Biddulph, and added a further twelve to his tally before returning to Crewe as a professional in October 2005 — manager

Dario Gradi Dario Gradi, MBE (born 8 July 1941) is an Italian-English former amateur football player, coach and manager. He was associated for more than 36 years with Crewe Alexandra, where he was variously manager, director of football and director of the ...

now convinced of Pope's potential. Pope chose to head to Crewe after two unsuccessful trials with boyhood club

. Pope spent much of the 2005–06 season in the

, playing on loan for

and then Stafford Rangers. He returned to the Conference North in 2006–07 with Barrow, again on loan, after Lancaster manager Phil Wilson moved on to

Holker Street Holker Street ( known as the SO Legal Stadium for sponsorship purposes), is a sports stadium in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. As well as being a football ground, it has also been used for motorcycle speedway.Gillingham at the

Priestfield Stadium Priestfield Stadium (popularly known simply as Priestfield and officially known from 2007 to 2010 as KRBS Priestfield Stadium and from 2011 as MEMS Priestfield Stadium for sponsorship purposes) is a football stadium in Gillingham, Kent. It has ...

, replacing Gary Roberts on 86 minutes. He made three further appearances from the bench during the rest of the season, all three games ending in defeat. He scored his first goal for the club against

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been c ...

on 18 August 2007, in a 1–1 draw at the Memorial Stadium. He established himself in the Alex first team in 2007–08, and his seven goals put him as the club's second-highest scorer after

Nicky Maynard Nicholas David Maynard (born 11 December 1986) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Macclesfield. He began his career at Crewe Alexandra, following over a decade in the club's Academy, and scored on his senior debu ...

. He signed a two-year contract extension in November 2008, keeping him at the "Alex" until summer 2011. He believed the players could win round disgruntled Crewe fans, and blamed the players for Steve Holland's sacking. He bettered his goal tally in 2008–09, and became the club's top scorer with ten goals, though this was not enough to prevent Crewe from suffering relegation out of

. His ten league goals reflected good value for his seventeen league starts, and additional nine appearances from the bench. This achievement came despite criticism from assistant manager Neil Baker that Pope lacked consistency on the pitch and professionalism off the pitch. In all he scored 17 goals in 64 games for the Crewe, and he remained thankful to the club, the fans and former manager Dario Gradi for rescuing his career, despite his falling out with then-manager

Guðjón Þórðarson Guðjón Þórðarson (; born 14 September 1955) is an Icelandic footballer manager and former player. He has previously been manager of Iceland, Icelandic clubs ÍA, KA, KR, Keflavík, BÍ/Bolungarvík and Grindavík, English clubs Notts Cou ...

Rotherham United

In June 2009, Pope joined

club

for a joint-club-record fee of £150,000, signing a three-year contract with the club. Impressing in the pre-season games, his first two goals for Rotherham came in a

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

Second Round tie with

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

The Hawthorns The Hawthorns is an all-seater association football, football stadium in West Bromwich, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England, with a capacity of 26,688. It has been the home of EFL Championship, Championship club West Bromwich Albion F ...

on 26 August. However manager

Mark Robins Mark Gordon Robins (born 22 December 1969) is an English football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Coventry City in the EFL Championship. As a player, he was a striker and is best known for his time in the Premier Leagu ...

departed in September, and in his absence Pope went on to score only three league goals in 35 appearances in 2009–10, and did not feature in the "Millers"' defeat in the play-off final due to a

metatarsal The metatarsal bones, or metatarsus, are a group of five long bones in the foot, located between the tarsal bones of the hind- and mid-foot and the phalanges of the toes. Lacking individual names, the metatarsal bones are numbered from the med ...

injury.

Port Vale

Pope did not hit scoring form at the start of the 2010–11 season, and numerous other League Two clubs expressed an interest in acquiring the player permanently, as

Ronnie Moore Ronald David Moore (born 29 January 1953) is an English football manager and former player. He has taken charge of several clubs including Rotherham United, Tranmere Rovers and Hartlepool United. He played for many different clubs in a care ...

was willing to sell Pope to the highest bidder.

Jim Gannon James Paul Gannon (born 7 September 1968) is a professional football manager and former player who most recently was manager of Hyde United. He started and finished his career as a player in Ireland, but made most of his professional appear ...

found top-scorer

Marc Richards Marc John Richards (born 8 July 1982) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker and is now, upon retiring, a first-team coach at Northampton Town. A youth team player at Hednesford Town, he turned professional at Blac ...

out injured, and so Pope finally achieved his dream of playing for the club he supported all his life, when he joined Port Vale on a month-long loan starting on 28 January 2011. He missed a penalty in his second appearance for the club, but in the next game he made his first full start and won a penalty – which

Justin Richards Justin Richards (born 14 September 1961) is a British writer. He has written science fiction and fantasy novels, including series set in Victorian or early-20th-century London, and also adventure stories set in the present day. He has written ...

converted. He scored both of the club's goals in his fourth game, a 2–1 win over

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It has been the home ground of Port Vale F.C. since 1950. The ground has seen its capacity go up and down, its peak being 42,000 in 1954 against Blackpool, although a club record 49, ...

, which was broadcast live on

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

. This final man-of-the-match winning performance was enough to convince Gannon to 'fight tooth and nail' to keep Pope at the club beyond the initial month long spell. Indeed, his loan spell was extended into a second month. His third goal for the club came on 22 March, and was enough to rescue a point at home to

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'The ...

for caretaker-manager

Mark Grew Mark Stuart Grew (born 15 February 1958) is an English former football player and coach who played as a goalkeeper. His career started in 1976 with West Bromwich Albion, where he spent seven seasons as a back-up keeper before moving on to Lei ...

. Following this his loan deal was extended into a third month. However the loan spell was terminated three weeks early following a change of circumstances – parent club Rotherham had dropped out of the play-offs and manager Ronnie Moore had departed. Pope remained hopeful of a permanent switch in the summer, and a move away from the

Don Valley Stadium Don Valley Stadium was a sports stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The venue, which was completed in September 1990, hosted the 1991 World Student Games. It was designed by Sheffield City Council's Design & Building Services and nam ...

seemed inevitable after new manager Andy Scott omitted him from United's pre-season tour of Portugal. He got his wish in August, as he switched to Port Vale on a free transfer. He signed a one-year deal with the "Valiants" despite more lucrative two-year offers from

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...

and

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ...

, as well as interest from

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional association football, football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was liquidation, wound-up after a High Court of Justice, High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially kno ...

. He went straight into manager

Micky Adams Michael Richard Adams (born 8 November 1961) is an English former professional association football, footballer and football manager. As a player, he was a Full-back (football), full back, and made a total of 438 league appearances in a ninete ...

' first team for the start of the 2011–12 season. He scored twice in his opening ten games, including a headed winning goal against

which took the Vale into the automatic promotion places in mid-September; however after the match he was still forced to respond to criticism levelled at him from a minority of fans. Adams added that "Tom shouldn't listen to the supporters – with the greatest of respect to them". Pope added to his tally with the equalizing goal in a 1–1 draw with Vale's local rivals, and his former club, Crewe Alexandra on 24 September. Though he only hit four goals in his first 25 games of the season, he picked up a hat-trick of assists in the 4–0 win over

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in the spring ...

on 17 December. He ended a run of fifteen games without a goal by coming off the bench to net a late winner at home to

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

on 28 January; the strike was his first goal of the season not to come from his head. However the following month he picked up a groin injury and was forced to undergo 'hernia-related' surgery. He agreed to sign a new one-year deal with the club in June 2012, though assistant manager

warned him to improve his scoring tally. Pope repeatedly stated to the local press that he was determined to improve his goals tally. Pope had a quietly consistent start to the 2012–13 season, before hitting four goals in a 6–2 home win over former club Rotherham on 8 September. He was quoted as saying that this was the best game of his career, as he proved a point to his detractors at former club Rotherham. A brace in a 2–0 win over

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

St James Park St James Park and variants may refer to: Municipalities * St James Park, New Zealand, a suburb of Hamilton, New Zealand Football stadiums * St James' Park, Newcastle upon Tyne, England * St James Park (Exeter), Exeter, England * St James Park, g ...

on 6 October took him to 11 goals in 13 games; this meant that, with the season only a quarter of the way in, the 27-year-old had reached his best ever goal tally. It also made him the fastest Vale player to reach double figures since Tom Nolan hit ten goals within the first eleven games of the 1933–34 season. Pope was quick to credit wing duo

Jennison Myrie-Williams Jennison Machisti Myrie-Williams (born 17 May 1988) is an English Association football, footballer who plays as a Right winger, winger. Myrie-Williams began his career at Bristol City F.C., Bristol City, progressing through the club's youth sys ...

and

Ashley Vincent Ashley Derek Vincent (born 26 May 1985) is an English former football player and manager. He played on the wing or as a striker, and was renowned for his pace. He graduated through the Wolverhampton Wanderers youth system to win a contract wit ...

for supplying him with the chances he needed to find the net so frequently. His seven goals in seven games saw him named as

League Two Player of the Month The EFL League Two Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the player adjudged the best for each month of the season in EFL League Two, the English football league system, fourth tier of English football. Originally na ...

for September 2012. Fans at Vale Park began to chant "Feed the Pope and he will score" throughout matches, and he picked up the nickname of the "

Sneyd Green Sneyd Green is an area in the city of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, in the north-east of the city, from Hanley. Sneyd Green borders Smallthorne in the north, Milton in the east, Birches Head in the south, and Cobridge in the west. ...

Sniper / Assassin", in reference to his hometown. A hat-trick in a 4–0 win over

on 20 November meant that he became the quickest player to reach 20 goals (from the start of the season) in the club's Football League history. In February, he signed a new contract to keep him at the club until summer 2015. The next month he was named as League Two's

Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is he ...

after leading the division's scoring charts by five goals despite hitting an 11-game goal drought. After winning the award he claimed his third hat-trick of the season on 29 March, as Vale beat promotion rivals

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league syst ...

3–2. Vale secured promotion with a third-place finish at the end of the season, and Pope finished on 33 goals in 51 games. He was voted onto the

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

, alongside teammate

. He was further voted as Port Vale's Player of the Year. Pope was dropped from the starting line-up on 22 October 2013, ending a run of 66 consecutive league starts for the club, but marked his appearance from the bench in the following game with a goal to take Vale to within two points of the League One play-offs by the end of the month. He continued to hold down a first team starting place, and on 6 December he scored his fiftieth goal for Port Vale during a 4–1 FA Cup win over Salisbury City. He ended the 2013–14 campaign as the club's top-scorer with 16 goals in 51 appearances. The club secured a ninth-place finish in League One and Pope became the first player in the club's history to win the club's Player of the Year award in successive years. He opened the 2014–15 campaign by scoring in each of the first four games of the season. After

Rob Page Robert John Page (born 3 September 1974) is a Welsh football manager and former player, who is currently the manager of the Wales national team. In an 18-year career in the Premier League and the English Football League, he made 550 competitive ...

took over as caretaker-manager in September, Pope said that he was happy to act as a "battering ram" to help create chances for new signing

Jordan Slew Jordan Michael Slew (born 7 September 1992) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for club FC Halifax Town. Born in Sheffield, Slew began his footballing career at Sheffield United's academy in 2006, joining the club a ...

. The following month Pope was named as a transfer target by

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

manager Danny Wilson, and an unnamed

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

club also had a formal approach to Port Vale turned down. Vale chairman

Norman Smurthwaite Norman Smurthwaite (born 8 August 1960) is an English businessman and former football club chairman. He qualified as an engineer and built a successful business career and property portfolio before retiring at the age of 50. He took over as chair ...

told him that a new contract offer in the summer would mean a 50% reduction in his wages, despite other clubs indicating they would pay him almost double his current wage. In late October he picked up a knee injury and was ruled out of action for three months after undergoing surgery. He managed to finish as the club's top-scorer for the third successive season despite admitting that he was not fully fit at any point following his recovery from injury.

Bury

Pope entered formal talks with

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

in May 2015, before signing a three-year contract with newly promoted League One club

. He scored six goals in 33 games in the 2015–16 season before breaking his wrist in February. He continue to play with his wrist in plaster, and also played as a makeshift midfielder after coming on as a substitute against

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

. He ended the 2015–16 campaign with seven goals in 43 appearances, and was made available on a free transfer by manager

David Flitcroft David John Flitcroft (born 14 January 1974) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the director of football at club Port Vale. His older brother is the former Blackburn Rovers and Manchester City player Garry ...

in July 2016. On 8 October 2016, he collided with

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

goalkeeper Luke McGee and was hospitalised with two broken ribs and a punctured lung. He criticised his teammates the following month after Bury went on a 12-game winless run. He returned to action after six weeks out, and defended caretaker-manager

Chris Brass Christopher Paul Brass (born 24 July 1975) is an English former professional Association football, footballer and Manager (association football), manager who works in a senior recruitment role at Premier League club Nottingham Forest F.C., Notti ...

, saying the team's "downright stupid defending" was down to the players not the coaches. The team improved after new manager Lee Clark installed a new 5–2–3 formation, and Pope scored seven goals in 40 games as Bury rose clear of the relegation zone at the end of the 2016–17 season.

Return to Port Vale

Pope signed a two-year contract with Port Vale in May 2017 after agreeing a settlement with Bury on his contract. Manager Michael Brown said that the signing was a statement of intent for the club. Brown was sacked after a poor start to the 2017–18 season, with Pope only scoring one goal in his first 13 appearances. However he managed to find his form under new manager

Neil Aspin Neil Aspin (born 12 April 1965) is an English football manager and former player. A solid defender who could play at centre-back and right-back, he was a good marker and an adept tackler. He made his debut in the English Football League for L ...

, scoring five goals in Aspin's first three games as manager to help Vale to pick up back-to-back wins; this included a brace in a 3–1 win over Cheltenham Town that saw Pope named in the EFL team of the week. He went on to be nominated for the League Two Player of the Month award for October, having claimed five goals and one assist in five games. After winning the award, he stated that it "is a reflection on my team mates, how hard they have worked and the chances they have created for me". He was appointed club captain in December. The club turned down a bid of £25,000 from

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

during the January transfer window. Speaking at the end of February, Aspin said Pope had been playing through a hernia injury since Christmas and would require an operation in order to return to anything approaching full fitness. He quickly returned from injury and his total of 19 goals was essential in helping the club to avoid relegation; he finished the campaign as the club's top-scorer and was named Port Vale Player of the Year for a record third time. On 1 September 2018, Pope scored in a 2–1 home defeat to Newport County, to take his tally at the Vale Park ground one clear of

Stan Steele Stanley Frederick Steele (5 January 1937 – 15 July 2005) was an English association football, footballer. A Midfielder, half-back and Forward (association football), inside-forward, he scored 97 goals in 370 league and cup games for Port Vale ...

to a record 56; after the game Pope said that "I would rather not have scored and have got the three points ndI would give up any individual award and any record for another promotion. It's a team game, not an individual sport". In December he signed a new two-year contract to keep him tied to the club until summer 2021. On 12 January, he picked up a hamstring injury during a 3–0 home loss to

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

and was ruled out of action for 'a few weeks'. On 30 March, he scored the winning goal in a 2–1 victory over

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

, and in doing so became only the third player (after

Wilf Kirkham Wilfred Thomas Kirkham (26 November 1901 – 20 October 1974) was an English footballer who holds four goalscoring records at Port Vale. His 153 league goals and 164 goals in all competitions are both records, as his tally of 38 goals in the ...

and

Martin Foyle Martin John Foyle (born 2 May 1963) is an English former professional footballer and manager who is the Head of Recruitment at club St Mirren. In his 20-year playing career he played 533 League games, scoring 155 goals. As a manager, he took ...

) to score 100 goals for the club. He finished as the club's top-scorer for the fifth time for the 2018–19 season, and was named as that year's PFA Community Champion at the club's end of the year awards. New manager

John Askey John Colin Askey (born 4 November 1964) is an English professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of club York City. He is the son of former Port Vale player Colin Askey. Able to play as a winger or as a ...

confirmed that Pope would continue in his role as club captain in July 2019. He was mainly used as a substitute at the start of the 2019–20 season, but started in his 500th game as a professional footballer in a 2–2 home draw with

on 21 September. On having to regularly sit on the bench, he went on to say "it has been the lowest point of my career really". He scored a brace in a 3–1 home win over Morecambe on 5 October to earn himself a place on the EFL team of the week. However, later that month he lost the club captaincy to

Leon Legge Leon Clinton Elliott Legge (born 1 July 1985) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Harrogate Town. A defender, his strong strength, positioning and tackling skills have helped him compensate for a lack ...

after being increasingly started from the substitute's bench. On 30 November, Pope scored an eight-minute hat-trick to secure a 3–1 victory over Cheltenham Town in the FA Cup second round. In the following round he scored his 109th Port Vale goal, making him the outright second-highest goalscorer in the club's history (behind Wilf Kirkham), in a 4–1 defeat to

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

champions

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

on 4 January. This was later named as Port Vale's goal of the season. He had previously criticised Manchester City and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

centre-back

John Stones John Stones (born 28 May 1994) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Manchester City and the England national team. Stones began his career with Barnsley, making his first-team debut in the Championship in ...

on Twitter, saying he'd "get 40 a season" playing against Stones every week, and after the game tweeted that "I was completely wrong and bang out of order to say I'd score 40 a season..... it's more like 50." The following month he was named in Port Vale's best XI of the 2010s by local newspaper ''The Sentinel''. On 5 January, he tweeted a

World War III World War III or the Third World War, often abbreviated as WWIII or WW3, are names given to a hypothetical World war, worldwide large-scale military conflict subsequent to World War I and World War II. The term has been in use ...

prediction that "We invade

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

then

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

then

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

then the Rothchilds are crowned champions of every bank on the planet"; the FA concluded that these remarks amounted to

Antisemitic canard Antisemitic tropes, canards, or myths are " sensational reports, misrepresentations, or fabrications" that are defamatory towards Judaism as a religion or defamatory towards Jews as an ethnic or religious group. Since the Middle Ages, such repo ...

and handed him a £3,500 fine and a six-game ban to start at the beginning of the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season. The club announced that they would appeal the ban, adding that "the Commission did not find that Mr. Pope had been intentionally discriminatory and noted that the FA had not alleged any such intent on his part". On 12 January 2021, Pope broke his arm after landing awkwardly following a clash of heads in an EFL Trophy tie with

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

and played on for the remaining 19 minutes until the full-time whistle as caretaker-manager

Danny Pugh Daniel Adam Pugh (born 19 October 1982) is an English professional football coach and former player. A versatile player, he could play in midfield or at left-back. He began his career with Manchester United, and made a handful of first team ...

had already used his allocation of substitutions. He was limited to 23 appearances in the 2020–21 campaign and was released by new manager

Darrell Clarke Darrell James Clarke (born 16 December 1977) is an English professional football manager and former player who played in the English Football League. He is the manager of club Port Vale. A box-to-box midfielder, Clarke began his career with ...

in May 2021, leaving his final tally for the club to stand at 115 goals in 343 first-team appearances.

Congleton Town

On 21 July 2021, Pope joined North West Counties Premier Division side Congleton Town, linking up with former Port Vale teammate and now Congleton manager

Richard Duffy Richard Michael Duffy (born 30 August 1985) is a Welsh former professional footballer who is now the player-manager at club Congleton Town. A versatile player who can play either on the right or at the centre of defence, he won 13 caps for Wal ...

. He got off to an excellent start to his "Bears" career, being named as Premier Division Player of the Month for August after scoring six goals, providing two assists and winning five man of the match awards in six games. He scored 20 goals in 49 appearances throughout the 2021–22 season, collecting ten man of the match awards.

Style of play

, he has a natural advantage in the air. A target man, he is able to hold the ball up and bring other players into the game. As he said in an interview in September 2011, "I do the nitty-gritty and the dirty stuff." In terms of motivation, he also said that "some players need an arm around the shoulder but a kick up the backside seems to work better for me". His goal tally is not supplemented by penalty kicks, as he converted his first penalty in normal time at the age of 32. He does not possess great pace however.

Personal life

Pope, and two accomplices, were charged with

affray In many legal jurisdictions related to English common law, affray is a public order offence consisting of the fighting of one or more persons in a public place to the terror (in french: à l'effroi) of ordinary people. Depending on their act ...

for an incident in Hanley on 8 February 2009, and Pope received 200 hours community service and a six-month suspended jail sentence. Pope's defence team claimed that he was provoked when the victims verbally abused and assaulted his girlfriend. In November 2019, January 2020 and July 2020 he was suspended for ten matches and fined a total of £7,600 by

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

for "bringing the game into disrepute" in regards to unspecified posts he made on social media, with one Tweet being judged to have been

antisemitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

. A native of

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

, Pope grew up as a

supporter. He is an accomplished amateur

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

er, having reached the quarter-finals of Stoke-on-Trent's Sentinel Shield competition. He wears

contact lens Contact lenses, or simply contacts, are thin lenses placed directly on the surface of the eyes. Contact lenses are ocular prosthetic devices used by over 150 million people worldwide, and they can be worn to correct vision or for cosmetic ...

es. He married Melissa, and had a son, Bobby Joseph Pope, in May 2016. He also has a daughter, Millie. Pope and teammate

Adam Yates Adam Richard Yates (born 7 August 1992) is a British road and track racing cyclist who currently rides for . He placed fourth overall at the 2016 Tour de France and became the first British rider to win the young rider classification, one year ...

began the 2011–12 season as joint-managers of local amateur Sunday League side Sneyd, fitting their management duties around their professional careers at

. The pair took the club to the Potteries and District Premier Division title and the final of the Sentinel Sunday Cup in 2012–13. He began writing a column in '' The Sentinel'' in 2014.

Career statistics

Honours

Port Vale *

Football League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

third-place promotion: 2012–13 Individual *

: 2012–13 League Two * Football/EFL League Two Player of the Month: September 2012, October 2017 * Football League Two Player of the Year: 2012–13 * Port Vale Player of the Year: 2012–13, 2013–14, 2017–18 *

North West Counties League The North West Counties Football League is a football league in the North West of England. Since 2019–20, the league has covered the Isle of Man, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, Cumbria, northern Staffordshire, northern S ...

Premier Division Player of the Month: August 2021

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pope, Tom 1985 births Living people Footballers from Stoke-on-Trent English footballers Association football forwards Knypersley Victoria F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Hanley Town F.C. players Lancaster City F.C. players Stafford Rangers F.C. players Barrow A.F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Bury F.C. players Congleton Town F.C. players Midland Football Alliance players National League (English football) players English Football League players English columnists North West Counties Football League players