Thomas John Pope was born on 27 August 1985 and is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre forward for North West Counties League Premier Division side Congleton Town.
37 Facts About Tom Pope
2.
Tom Pope was voted Port Vale's Player of the Year in 2013 and 2014.
3.
Tom Pope signed with Bury in June 2015, and remained with the club for two seasons before rejoining Port Vale.
4.
Tom Pope 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.
5.
Tom Pope scored 115 goals in 343 league and cup appearances before leaving the club in May 2021.
6.
Tom Pope was a part of Crewe Alexandra Youth Academy, but was not offered a professional contract with the club.
7.
Tom Pope instead was forced to make his name in the Midland Football Alliance with Biddulph Victoria after coming through the Hanley Town under-18 side to find first team football.
8.
Tom Pope chose to head to Crewe after two unsuccessful trials with boyhood club Port Vale.
9.
Tom Pope made three further appearances from the bench during the rest of the season, all three games ending in defeat.
10.
Tom Pope signed a two-year contract extension in November 2008, keeping him at the "Alex" until summer 2011.
11.
Tom Pope believed the players could win round disgruntled Crewe fans, and blamed the players for Steve Holland's sacking.
12.
Jim Gannon found top-scorer Marc Richards out injured, and so Tom 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.
13.
Tom Pope remained hopeful of a permanent switch in the summer, 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.
14.
Tom Pope 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.
15.
Tom Pope agreed to sign a new one-year deal with the club in June 2012, though assistant manager Mark Grew warned him to improve his scoring tally.
16.
Tom Pope repeatedly stated to the local press that he was determined to improve his goals tally.
17.
Tom Pope 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.
18.
Tom Pope was quick to credit wing duo Jennison Myrie-Williams and Ashley Vincent for supplying him with the chances he needed to find the net so frequently.
19.
Vale secured promotion with a third-place finish at the end of the season, and Tom Pope finished on 33 goals in 51 games.
20.
Tom Pope was voted onto the PFA Team of the Year, alongside teammate Jennison Myrie-Williams.
21.
Tom Pope was further voted as Port Vale's Player of the Year.
22.
Tom 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.
23.
The club secured a ninth-place finish in League One and Tom Pope became the first player in the club's history to win the club's Player of the Year award in successive years.
24.
Tom Pope 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.
25.
Tom Pope entered formal talks with Doncaster Rovers in May 2015, before signing a three-year contract with newly promoted League One club Bury.
26.
Tom Pope continue to play with his wrist in plaster, and played as a makeshift midfielder after coming on as a substitute against Sheffield United.
27.
Tom Pope criticised his teammates the following month after Bury went on a 12-game winless run.
28.
Tom Pope returned to action after six weeks out, and defended caretaker-manager Chris Brass, saying the team's "downright stupid defending" was down to the players not the coaches.
29.
Tom Pope signed a two-year contract with Port Vale in May 2017 after agreeing a settlement with Bury on his contract.
30.
Tom Pope 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.
31.
New manager John Askey confirmed that Tom Pope would continue in his role as club captain in July 2019.
32.
The club announced that they would appeal the ban, adding that "the Commission did not find that Mr Tom Pope had been intentionally discriminatory and noted that the FA had not alleged any such intent on his part".
33.
On 12 January 2021, Tom Pope broke his arm after landing awkwardly following a clash of heads in an EFL Trophy tie with Sunderland and played on for the remaining 19 minutes until the full-time whistle as caretaker-manager Danny Pugh had already used his allocation of substitutions.
34.
On 21 July 2021, Tom Pope joined North West Counties Premier Division side Congleton Town, linking up with former Port Vale teammate and now Congleton manager Richard Duffy.
35.
Tom Pope is an accomplished amateur golfer, having reached the quarter-finals of Stoke-on-Trent's Sentinel Shield competition.
36.
Tom Pope married Melissa, and had a son, Bobby Joseph Pope, in May 2016.
37.
Tom Pope began writing a column in The Sentinel in 2014.