| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Thomas John Pope[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 27 August 1985 [2] | ||
| Place of birth | Stoke-on-Trent, England[3] | ||
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)[2] | ||
| Playing position | Centre forward | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Port Vale | ||
| Number | 11 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Crewe Alexandra | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2004–2005 | Biddulph Victoria | ? | (17) |
| 2005–2009 | Crewe Alexandra | 56 | (17) |
| 2005 | → Lancaster City (loan) | 5 | (1) |
| 2006 | → Stafford Rangers (loan) | 10 | (5) |
| 2006 | → Barrow (loan) | 21 | (6) |
| 2009–2011 | Rotherham United | 52 | (4) |
| 2011 | → Port Vale (loan) | 13 | (3) |
| 2011– | Port Vale | 24 | (4) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 00:00, 2 January 2012 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). |
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Thomas John "Tom" Pope (born 27 August 1985) is a professional English footballer who plays as a centre forward for League Two side Port Vale.
A Crewe Alexandra Academy 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 sides Lancaster City 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 goals. He became Rotherham United'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 in January 2011. The loan was made permanent in time for the start of the 2011–12 season.
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Pope was a part of Crewe Alexandra's highly acclaimed youth set-up, but was not offered a professional contract with the club.[4] He instead was forced to make his name in the Midland Football Alliance with Biddulph Victoria. During this time the teenager found work as a window-fitter.[5] 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 now convinced of Pope's potential.[6] Pope chose to head to Crewe after two unsuccessful trials with boyhood club Port Vale.[7]
Pope spent much of the 2005–06 season in the Conference North, playing on loan for Lancaster City and then Stafford Rangers.[8] He returned to the division in 2006–07 with Barrow, again on loan.[9] In all he scored 12 goals in 36 games in the division. On 10 March 2007, Pope made his debut for Crewe in a 1–0 defeat to Gillingham at the Priestfield Stadium, replacing Gary Roberts on 86 minutes.[10] 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 on 18 August 2007, in a 1–1 draw at the Memorial Stadium.[11] 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.
He signed a two-year contract extension in November 2008, keeping him at the "Alex" until summer 2011.[5] He believed the players could win round disgruntled Crewe fans,[12] and blamed the players for Steve Holland's sacking.[13] 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 League One. 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.[14] 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.[15]
"No one at Crewe ever told me if I was doing a decent job. They told me the things I did wrong, but they never gave me any chance to build my confidence or give me any encouragement. It started to get me down towards the end, it was frustrating but that's football. I wanted a new challenge and I've got one at Rotherham."—Pope was sometimes frustrated during his time at Gresty Road.[16]
In June 2009, Pope joined League Two club Rotherham United for a joint-club-record fee of £150,000,[17] signing a three year contract with the club.[4] Impressing in the pre-season games, his first two goals for Rotherham came in a League Cup Second Round tie with West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns on 26 August.[18] However manager Mark Robins departed in September,[19] 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 injury.
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 was willing to sell Pope to the highest bidder.[20] Jim Gannon found top-scorer Marc Richards out injured,[21] and so Pope finally achieved his dream of playing for the club he supported all his life,[22] when he joined Port Vale on a month long loan starting on 28 January 2011.[23] He missed a penalty in his second appearance for the club,[24] but in the next game he made his first full start and won a penalty – which Justin Richards converted.[25] He scored both of the club's goals in his fourth game, a 2–1 win over Bradford City at Vale Park, which was broadcast live on Sky Sports.[26] 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.[27] Indeed his loan spell was extended into a second month.[28] His third goal for the club came on 22 March, and was enough to rescue a point at home to Hereford United for caretaker-manager Mark Grew.[29] Following this his loan deal was extended into a third month.[30] 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.[31] Pope remained hopeful of a permanent switch in the summer,[32] and a move away from the Don Valley Stadium seemed inevitable after new manager Andy Scott omitted him from United's pre-season tour of Portugal.[33] He got his wish in August, as he switched to Port Vale on a free transfer.[34] He signed a one year deal with the "Valiants" despite more lucrative two year offers from Morecambe and Mansfield Town, as well as interest from Macclesfield Town.[33]
He went straight into manager Micky Adams' first team for the start of the 2011–12 season. He scored twice in his opening ten games, including a headed winning goal against Bradford City 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.[35] Adams added that "Tom shouldn't listen to the supporters – with the greatest of respect to them".[36] 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.[15] 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 on 17 December.[37]
A 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) centre forward, he has a natural advantage in the air.[2] A target man, he is able to hold the ball up and bring other players into the game.[38] As he said in an interview in September 2011, "I do the nitty-gritty and the dirty stuff."[35]
Pope, and two accomplices,[39] were charged with affray for an incident in Hanley on 8 February 2009,[40] 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.[41]
A native of Stoke-on-Trent, Pope grew up as a Port Vale supporter.[42] He is an accomplished amateur golfer, having reached the quarter-finals of Stoke-on-Trent's Sentinel Shield competition.[43] He wears contact lenses.[44]
Pope and teammate Adam Yates began the 2011–12 season as joint-managers of local amateur Sunday League side Sneyd,[45] fitting their management duties around their professional careers at Vale Park.
| Club performance | League | Cup | League Cup | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| England | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Total | ||||||
| 2005–06 | Crewe Alexandra | Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2005–06 | Lancaster City | Conference North | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 |
| 2005–06 | Stafford Rangers | Conference North | 10 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 5 |
| 2006–07[46] | Crewe Alexandra | League One | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 2006–07 | Barrow | Conference North | 21 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 6 |
| 2007–08[47] | Crewe Alexandra | League One | 26 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 28 | 7 |
| 2008–09[48] | Crewe Alexandra | League One | 26 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 32 | 10 |
| 2009–10[49] | Rotherham United | League Two | 35 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 39 | 5 |
| 2010–11[50] | Rotherham United | League Two | 18 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 1 |
| 2010–11[50] | Port Vale | League Two | 13 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 3 |
| 2011–12[51] | Port Vale | League Two | 24 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 28 | 4 |
| Total | England | 182 | 40 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 200 | 42 | |
| Career total | 182 | 40 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 200 | 42 | ||
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