‘Feed The Pope’: A reflection of Tom Pope’s prolific Port Vale career

Tom Pope has played a key role at Port Vale over the last decade. The striker was a pivotal part in the Valiants’ promotion to League One in 2013, as well as scoring a historic goal against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in 2020.

The Valiants are one of the first League Two sides to have released their retained list ahead of the 2021/22 campaign. Players including Tom Conlon, Nathan Smith and David Worrall are all staying for the upcoming season, however, experienced fan favourites were let go including veteran goalkeeper Scott Brown as well as the club’s leading post-war goalscorer, Tom Pope.

Pope grew up in Stoke-on-Trent and is a Port Vale supporter. The striker was part of Crewe Alexandra’s illustrious academy, however didn’t go onto be a part of the Railwaymen’s first team.

After several loan spells to teams like Lancaster City, Stafford Rangers and Barrow, Pope moved to Rotherham United in 2009. The Millers were playing in League Two at the time, however, the forward missed the 2010 League Two play-off Final against Dagenham and Redbridge due to a metatarsal injury.

After 59 appearances over his two-year spell in Yorkshire, Pope signed for his boyhood club on a month-long loan in January 2011. He was an emergency loan as the Valiants top scorer, Marc Richards, was out injured.

In a fixture against Bradford City at Vale Park in 2011, the forward’s impressive performance convinced then-manager Jimmy Gannon to extend his loan deal to two months after the hometown hero netted a brace as the Valiants walked away 2-1 victors.

Despite the loan deal being terminated just weeks later as Rotherham had dropped out of the play-off spots which saw manager Ronnie Moore relieved of his duties, Pope returned to Vale Park in the summer of 2011 on a permanent basis.

Port Vale saw off competition from Macclesfield Town, Mansfield Town and Morecambe who’d offered better-paid deals, however for Pope, his heart was devoted to the Burslem outfit.

In the early stages of the 2011/12 campaign under Micky Adams, Pope had fired Vale into the League Two automatic promotion places after a late goal against Bradford. He also netted against his former club Crewe, chalked up a brilliant hat-trick away at Aldershot Town and also scored another late winner, this time against Plymouth Argyle.

His 2011/12 campaign ended early after the striker underwent a hernia operation after picking up a groin injury in February.

The striker had a steady start to the 2012/13 season before bursting into life in a 6-2 thrashing against Rotherham, where the Sneyd-Green Sniper scored four goals against his former employers. Weeks later, Pope netted a brace in a 2-0 win over Exeter City which took him into double figures for the season after just 13 games.

After vowing to assistant manager Mark Grew and the local press that he’d improve his goal tally for the season, he had already reached his best ever goal tally with just a quarter of the season gone.

A hat-trick against Bristol Rovers meant that Pope was the quickest player to reach 20 goals from the start of the season in the Valiants’ Football League history.

He netted another three goals against promotion rivals Cheltenham Town at the end of March, which helped Vale finish in third place securing promotion to League One.

The Sneyd-Green Sniper netted 33 goals in 51 games throughout the campaign, as well as being awarded the League Two’s Player of the Year award and was also named Port Vale’s Player of the Year.

Pope scored his 50th Port Vale goal in an FA Cup second round tie against Sailsbury City in December 2013 and finished the campaign as the club’s top scorer with 16 goals from 51 appearances.

The striker had an excellent start to the 2014/15 campaign as he scored in each of the Valiants’ opening four league games. In October 2014, Pope picked up a knee injury that required surgery however still managed to finish as Port Vale’s top goalscorer for the third year in succession, scoring 12 goals in 36 games.

The forward moved to Bury at the end of the season and stayed with the Shakers for two seasons. In his final season at Gigg Lane, his boyhood club suffered relegation from League One.

The homecoming hero returned to Vale Park at the start of the 2017/18 campaign in the hopes of firing the Burslem outfit back up to League One at the first attempt.

A difficult return to life in League Two for Port Vale saw manager Michael Brown sacked, and Neil Aspin appointed as his successor. It was under Aspin where Pope returned to his fine form by scoring five goals in Aspin’s first three games at the helm of the Valiants.

In December 2017, Pope was appointed captain by Aspin, as he netted 19 goals throughout the season, despite playing through a hernia injury. The forward’s goals ultimately helped Vale survive in the Football League and avoiding back to back relegations.

At the start of the 2018/19 campaign, Pope scored his 56th goal at Vale Park which set a new record, beating Stan Steele’s record of 55 goals scored on the hallowed turf of ‘The Wembley of the North’.

That December, the striker scored a goal against Stoke City’s U21’s side in a Checkatrade Trophy clash. Pope relished the opportunity to have banter with the Stoke supporters as he celebrated by lifting up his shirt in response to chants aimed at him from a group of the 3,000+ Stoke fans housed in the Hamil Road End that night.

Following a return from a hamstring injury, Pope netted his 100th goal for Port Vale in an away fixture against Northampton Town in March 2019. The striker became only the third player to reach triple figures in a Vale shirt – joining Wilf Kirkham and Martin Foyle in the Port Vale 100 Club.

The striker ended the 2018/19 season as the club’s top scorer yet again, scoring 14 goals from 41 appearances in all competitions.

In September 2019, Pope made his 500th appearance as a professional footballer in a 2-2 draw with Mansfield.

Pope started to flourish once more under new manager John Askey, who was appointed in February 2019; as the Sneyd-Green Sniper scored a brace in a 3-1 home victory over Morecambe as well as an eight-minute hat-trick against Cheltenham Town in the second round of the FA Cup.

Despite losing the captaincy to experienced defender Leon Legge during this run of form, Pope continued with a professional attitude towards the team still wanting the very best for his club, as he’d remained humble about his successes over the years owing it to his teammates and the club staff.

His hat-trick in the FA Cup second round tie led to an away draw at then-reigning Premier League champions Manchester City in the third round of the competition.

Despite going 1-0 down after an Oleksandr Zinchenko strike, Pope nodded home the equaliser after a fantastic counter-attack from the Vale side sending the travelling 8,000 Port Vale supporters into pure delirium. The goal was later named the Port Vale 2019/20 goal of the season.

Pope finished the campaign with 10 goals to his name, as Vale narrowly missed out on the League Two play-offs after the final league standings were calculated on a points per game basis.

The striker had reached double figures every season he’d played in a Port Vale shirt since his outstanding 2012/13 campaign.

Unfortunately for Pope, he struggled to find any consistency during the 2020/21 season as he only netted three goals in 21 appearances. The forward had struggled for fitness through the latter part of the season after breaking his arm in a Papa John’s Trophy tie with Sunderland in January.

Pope has been an outstanding servant to his boyhood club, being Port Vale’s record post-war goal scorer, netting 115 goals in 343 appearances in all competitions.

Port Vale manager Darrell Clarke has reflected on Pope’s time at the club as he spoke to the club’s media:

“Since I’ve been at the club Tom has been the consummate professional. He’s worked hard and helped me and the dressing room… He’s had a difficult season with injuries but his commitment to the cause has been first class – as you’d expect of a club legend – and his record will stand the test of time.”

The forward will leave Vale Park next month as his contract expires after an illustrious career in black and white, living out his childhood dream.

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