Richard Hope

Richard Paul Hope (born 22 June 1978) is an English former footballer who played as a defender. He played for Darlington, Northampton Town, York City, Chester City, Shrewsbury Town, Wrexham and Grimsby Town, making over 350 appearances in the Football League.

This article is about the footballer. For the actor, see Richard Hope (actor).

Richard Hope
Personal information
Full name Richard Paul Hope[1]
Date of birth (1978-06-22) 22 June 1978[1]
Place of birth Stockton-on-Tees, England
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[1]
Position(s) Defender
Youth career
1991–1995 Blackburn Rovers
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1995–1997 Blackburn Rovers 0 (0)
1997 → Darlington (loan) 5 (0)
1997–1998 Darlington 57 (1)
1998 → Northampton Town (loan) 1 (0)
1998–2003 Northampton Town 134 (7)
2003–2004 York City 36 (2)
2004–2005 Chester City 28 (2)
2005–2007 Shrewsbury Town 75 (2)
2007–2008 Wrexham 33 (0)
2008–2009 Grimsby Town 6 (0)
Total 374 (14)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Career

Blackburn Rovers

Born in Stockton-on-Tees, Hope began his career as a trainee at Blackburn Rovers but made no appearances for the club.[2] He joined Darlington on one-month loan in January, which brought him his first league experience, and played five games in the Third Division.

Darlington

He joined the club on a free transfer in the following month.[2] He was a regular for Darlington for the following season-and-a-half, making over 60 league and cup appearances,[2] but fell out of favour in the first half of the 1998–99 season and joined Northampton Town on loan in December 1998, which was quickly converted to a permanent signing a week later.[2]

Northampton Town

Hope made over 150 appearances in four-and-a-half seasons at Northampton, helping the club to automatic promotion to the Second Division in 2000.[3] Following the club's relegation to the Third Division at the end of the 2002–03 season, Hope was released by Northampton in August 2003.

York City

Hope joined York City on a one-month contract in August 2003.[4] He then signed a three-month contract in the following month.[5] He stayed at York for the rest of the season but after the club was relegated to the Conference National at the end of the 2003–04 season he left the club.[6]

Chester City

He then signed for Conference champions Chester City on a two-year contract.[7] Hope made 28 appearances in League Two for Chester in the 2004–05 season,[2] helping the club to avoid relegation.[8] He also scored in Chester's memorable Football League Trophy win over Sheffield Wednesday.[9]

Shrewsbury Town

Shrewsbury Town signed Hope on free transfer in August 2005 after being allowed to leave Chester as he did not feature in manager Keith Curle's plans for the 2005–06 season.[10] He became a regular for Shrewsbury and was made club captain.[11] He made over 75 appearances in two seasons, helping the club to the League Two play-off final in May 2007.[12] Following defeat in the play-off final, Hope was released by Shrewsbury.

Wrexham

His next port of call was to sign for Wrexham in June 2007.[13][14] He made 35 league and cup appearances for Wrexham in the 2007–08 season but was transfer listed in May 2008 following the club's relegation to the Conference.[15]

Grimsby Town

He returned to League Two with a move to Grimsby Town after being handed a two-year contract by Alan Buckley in June.[16] However, after struggling to hold down a first team place, his contract at Grimsby was cancelled by mutual consent on 7 February 2009, departing Blundell Park after only featuring seven times during the 2008–09 season.[17]

Personal life

After Hope retired from football, he retrained to work on oil rigs in the North Sea.[18] Hope's father, John, played League football as a goalkeeper, and his older brother Chris played as a defender.[19][20]

References
  1. Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2009). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2009–10. Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84596-474-0.
  2. "Richard Hope". Soccerbase. Racing Post. Retrieved 24 May 2008.
  3. "Cobblers enjoy promotion party". BBC Sport. 28 June 2000. Retrieved 25 May 2008.
  4. "Hope for City". Evening Press. Newsquest. 6 August 2003. Retrieved 25 May 2008.
  5. "Hope pens York deal". BBC Sport. 15 September 2003. Retrieved 18 August 2007.
  6. "Carlisle and York go down". BBC Sport. 1 May 2004. Retrieved 25 May 2008.
  7. "Chester swoop on Hope". BBC Sport. 8 June 2004. Retrieved 25 May 2008.
  8. "Chester 2–2 Bristol Rovers". BBC Sport. 16 April 2006. Retrieved 25 May 2008.
  9. "Sheffield Wednesday 1, Chester City 2". chesterchronicle.co.uk. 30 September 2004. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
  10. "Hope poised to seal Shrews switch". BBC Sport. 11 August 2005. Retrieved 25 May 2008.
  11. "Peters keeps the faith with Hope". BBC Sport. 29 June 2006. Retrieved 25 May 2008.
  12. Bevan, Chris (26 May 2007). "Bristol Rovers 3–1 Shrewsbury". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 May 2008.
  13. "Shrewsbury release defensive duo". BBC Sport. 29 May 2007. Retrieved 29 May 2007.
  14. "Hope completes Wrexham transfer". BBC Sport. 6 June 2007. Retrieved 27 September 2008.
  15. "Roberts and Llewellyn leave Reds". BBC Sport. 6 May 2008. Retrieved 11 May 2008.
  16. "Two more defenders join Mariners". BBC Sport. 25 June 2008. Retrieved 25 June 2008.
  17. "Hope Released". Grimsby Town F.C. 7 February 2009. Retrieved 7 February 2009.
  18. Madden, Lawrie (26 October 2009). "Careers after football: Richard Hope". Give Me Football. Archived from the original on 31 October 2009.
  19. "Blyth Spartans chief close to double signing". Evening Chronicle. Newcastle. 5 June 2009. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  20. Amos, Mike (10 October 2013). "Sight lines". The Northern Echo. Darlington. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
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