Chris_Hope_(footballer)

Chris Hope (footballer)

Chris Hope (footballer)

English footballer

Christopher Jonathan Hope (born 14 November 1972) is an English former footballer. Hope made over 500 appearances in the Football League for Scunthorpe United and Gillingham between 1993 and 2006.

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Career

Born in Sheffield, Hope was raised in Stockton-on-Tees, after his family relocated to the North-East following his father, John, joining Hartlepool United in 1975. Hope initially played youth football for Billingham Synthonia, before following in his father's footsteps in joining Darlington just one week before he was due to start as an apprentice pipe-fitter.[1]

Hope was then offered professional terms just one year into his apprenticeship; but after a chance end-of-season encounter between Darlington's and Nottingham Forest's first-team squads in Majorca, he was recommended to Brian Clough by then-Darlington boss Brian Little. After a successful trial with Forest's under-19's squad, the City Ground club paid Darlington £50,000 for the defender.[2]

Hope never made a first-team appearance for Forest, but was a member of their travelling party for the 1991 FA Cup Final. In addition to meeting Prince Charles and Princess Diana pre-match, Hope was infamously then forced to help Clough get changed on top of the Royal Car, before later being dispatched to block TV cameras from focusing on the Forest manager.[3]

During his final season in Nottinghamshire, Hope also had a successful loan spell with Graham Carr's Kettering Town, making 23 appearances and scoring three goals for the Northamptonshire club.[4]

Turning down interest from seven other Football League clubs that summer, including Stoke City, Hope signed for Scunthorpe United on a free transfer. Despite having previously rejected Hope when a youth coach at Glanford Park in 1989, now manager Richard Money gave the defender his debut in the season-opener away at Springfield Park against Wigan Athletic.[5]

Over the next seven years Hope became an integral part of the Scunthorpe side, going on to make 337 appearances and score 22 goals for the club.[1] This included captaining the club to its first promotion in 16 years, and only victory at The Old Wembley, thanks to the 1998-99 Third Division play-off final against Leyton Orient.[6]

Between 9 March 1996 and 28 December 1999, Hope did not miss a single regular league or play-off game for the Lincolnshire club, and also only missed one of 27 FA Cup games during that time. This 178-league game stretch remains an all-time club record.[1]

After their relegation from the Second Division in 1999-2000 however, Scunthorpe accepted a £250,000 offer for Hope, who signed a four-year contract for Gillingham.[7] Hope made his debut in the club's first ever game in the First Division, a 3–1 home defeat to Stockport County, in August 2000,[8] made 145 consecutive appearances and was rewarded with a new three-year contract in March 2003.[9][10] He went on to play in 176 successive games before finally missing a game through suspension. Following the departure of ex-club captain Paul Smith, Hope was appointed the club captain for the Gills for their first season back in League One in the 2005–06 season.[11] He missed much of the 2005–06 season due to injury,[12][13] and was released by manager Ronnie Jepson at the end of the season having made over 250 league and cup appearances for Gillingham since joining from Scunthorpe.[14][15][16]

Hope signed a two-year deal with Conference National club Rushden & Diamonds in July 2006.[17][18] Rushden manager Paul Hart described him as "... a gutsy battler who shows great leadership, his integrity and honesty is a terrific example, and he is the perfect role model for our younger players. His experience will be of great benefit",[18] and named him team captain for the 2006–07 season.[19] He was released by Rushden & Diamonds at the end of the 2007–08 season owing to financial constraints,[20] and turned down a move to Dover Athletic, managed by former Gillingham teammate Andy Hessenthaler, as he was unable to relocate to Kent.[21] He joined Conference North club Corby Town in June 2009 for the 2009–10 season.[22]

Hope joined Southern Football League Division One Central side St Neots Town in summer 2011. On 21 July 2012, Hope joined AFC Rushden & Diamonds.[23] During the 2012-13 league campaign, he made 30 appearances for the club, scoring four goals.[24]

Personal life

Hope's father, John, played League football as a goalkeeper,[25] and his younger brother Richard played as a defender.[26]

Following his retirement from playing football professionally, Chris is now a working at Kimbolton School in Cambridgeshire as a sports coach.[27]

Playing statistics

(to end of 2008–09 season[28])

ClubSeasonsLeague
Apps (goals)		FA Cup
Apps (goals)		League Cup
Apps (goals)		Other
Apps (goals)		Total
Apps (goals)
Darlington1989–900 (0)0 (0)0 (0)0 (0)0 (0)
Nottingham Forest1990–930 (0)0 (0)0 (0)0 (0)0 (0)
Scunthorpe United1993–00287 (19)18 (1)14 (0)13 (0)332 (20)
Gillingham2000–06236 (13)12 (2)16 (0)0 (0)264 (15)
Rushden & Diamonds2006–09128 (10)4 (1)0 (0)3 (0)135 (11)

Honours

Individual

References

  1. [1]
    Bell, Max (31 August 2020). Scunthorpe United: 20 Legends. Vertical Editions. p177. ISBN 978-1-9088471-9-5
  2. [2]
    Bell, Max (31 August 2020). Scunthorpe United: 20 Legends. Vertical Editions. pp.177-178. ISBN 978-1-9088471-9-5
  3. [3]
    Bell, Max (31 August 2020). Scunthorpe United: 20 Legends. Vertical Editions. pp.178-179. ISBN 978-1-9088471-9-5
  4. [4]
    "Chris Hope". 25 August 2017.
  5. [5]
    Bell, Max (31 August 2020). Scunthorpe United: 20 Legends. Vertical Editions. pp.179-180. ISBN 978-1-9088471-9-5
  6. [6]
    Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "📺 Classic match: Iron 1-0 Leyton Orient". YouTube.
  7. [7]
    "Gills splash out again". BBC Sport. 5 July 2000. Retrieved 14 June 2009.
  8. [8]
    "Gillingham 1–3 Stockport". BBC Sport. 12 August 2000. Retrieved 14 June 2009.
  9. [9]
    "Hope welcomes Gills deal". BBC Sport. 13 March 2003. Retrieved 14 June 2009.
  10. [10]
    Bailey, Graeme (12 March 2003). "Gills pair pen new deals". Sky Sports. Retrieved 14 June 2009.
  11. [11]
    "Hope dumbfounded by Gills defeat". BBC Sport. 14 September 2005. Retrieved 14 June 2009.
  12. [12]
    "Injured Hope has contract concern". BBC Sport. 8 December 2005. Retrieved 14 June 2009.
  13. [13]
    "Chris hopes for a new deal". Your Shepway News. KOS Media Ltd. 28 April 2006. Retrieved 14 June 2009. Gillingham captain Chris Hope says he hopes to snare a new contract for next season – despite finding himself out of action for much of it with injuries.[permanent dead link]
  14. [14]
    "Chris Hope". Soccerbase. Retrieved 14 June 2009.
  15. [15]
    "Hope among five Gills departures". BBC Sport. 9 May 2006. Retrieved 14 June 2009.
  16. [16]
    Bailey, Graeme (9 May 2006). "No Hope for Gills". Sky Sports. Retrieved 14 June 2009.
  17. [17]
    Bailey, Graeme (11 July 2006). "Hope for Rushden". Sky Sports. Retrieved 14 June 2009.
  18. [18]
    "Diamonds swoop for ex-Gills star". BBC Sport. 8 July 2006. Retrieved 14 June 2009.
  19. [19]
    "Hope awarded Diamonds captaincy". BBC Sport. 3 August 2006. Retrieved 14 June 2009.
  20. [20]
    "Burgess set to leave Nene Park". BBC Sport. 13 May 2008. Retrieved 14 June 2009. Rushden and Diamonds have revealed that club captain Andy Burgess, player-coach Chris Hope and midfielder Marcus Kelly are all set to leave Nene Park.
  21. [21]
    Howard, Tom (1 June 2009). "Former Gills star turns down Dover move". Your Dover News. KOS Media. Archived from the original on 7 June 2009. Retrieved 2 June 2009. Dover Athletic have missed out on signing former Gillingham defender Chris Hope. ... Hessenthaler had been in talks with the Rushden & Diamonds defender for a number of weeks, but it appears the move is off, with Hope unable to move from his Northampton home to Kent.
  22. [22]
    White, Andy (2 June 2009). "Drury Brings Hope To Corby". The Non-League Paper. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 14 June 2009. CORBY TOWN have signed centre-back Chris Hope following his departure from Rushden & Diamonds. The 36-year-old's contract at Nene Park expired at the end of the 2008/09 season and he rejected the offer of a new deal on reduced terms.
  23. [23]
    "AFC Rushden & Diamonds capture Chris Hope".
  24. [24]
    "Player Profiles".
  25. [25]
    Amos, Mike (10 October 2013). "Sight lines". The Northern Echo. Darlington. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  26. [26]
    "Blyth Spartans chief close to double signing". Evening Chronicle. Newcastle. 5 June 2009. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  27. [27]
    "United Counties League Fans on Facebook". Facebook. Archived from the original on 27 April 2022.[user-generated source]
  28. [28]
    "Chris Hope playing statistics". Soccerbase. Retrieved 14 June 2009.
  29. [29]
    Hugman, Barry J., ed. (1999). The 1999–2000 Official PFA Footballers Factfile. Harpenden: Queen Anne Press. p. 352. ISBN 978-1-85291-607-7.
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