John Hope RIP

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John Hope, Newcastle United’s cover keeper in the 1969 European Fairs Cup final, has died suddenly at the age of 67.

John, who suffered from Parkinson’s Disease, was found dead in bed at his Stockton home.

Born in Shildon, John played for Darlington before Newcastle signed him in March of 69 for £8,000.

He was understudy to Willie McFaul and only played one first-team match at Manchester City before he was transferred to Sheffield United along with David Ford in exchange for John Tudor.

However John became a star at Bramall Lane being a regular first-teamer and helping them win promotion to the top flight in 1971.

Alan Foggon, who scored for Newcastle in the second leg of the Fairs Cup final in Budapest, arranged a do for John Hope at the Irish Club in Newcastle in January which was attended by several of his old team mates including Tony Currie and David who came up from Sheffield.

It raised £3,500 for John, who lived by himself, with a further £1,000 going to the Parkinson’s charity.

“John was a lovely man and we’re all shocked at the news,” Foggon told me. “We hold regular meetings in Newcastle for the old apprentices and reserve players from our era and John always came up on the bus from Stockton to attend despite having Parkinson’s.

“It’s so sudden it has caught us all out. He was a very popular member of our Fairs Cup squad.”

John’s two sons also played in the Football League.


In January 1971, Sheffield United exchanged striker John Tudor for Hope and forward David Ford.[7] Hope went straight into the starting eleven, replacing former England international goalkeeper Alan Hodgkinson. Of his home debut, in a 2–1 defeat of Luton Town on 6 February, the Guardian's correspondent wrote that he made some fine saves but "had a lot on his plate following the popular and long-serving Hodgkinson".[8] He kept his place as Sheffield United went on to clinch promotion to the First Division at the end of the season, with a run of results that included seven consecutive clean sheets, a club record that stood until beaten byMark Howard more than 40 years later.[9] According to team-mate Tony Currie, Hope "was a top line player who, like everyone else made a couple of mistakes, but because of his position they were highlighted more than the rest of us. John, though, had the heart of a lion. He was one of the bravest I've ever seen."[9]

After Peter Shilton injured a finger, Hope received a late call-up to the England under-23 squad for a January 1972 fixture against Wales, but Phil Parkes, originally selected as substitute for Shilton, played in the match.[10] Despite a poor performance in a 5–0 home defeat by Arsenal at the end of the month,[11][12] coinciding with unfounded rumours about his lifestyle, Hope was in Sheffield United's team for the next League match, a 3–3 draw with Manchester City,[13] and received a second call-up to the U23 squad, again as understudy to Parkes with Shilton injured.[12] He kept the starting place for most of that season,[14] but played relatively little thereafter. In January 1975, the Daily Mirror reported that Hope had been available on a free transfer for three months, no offers had come in for him, and although he would be willing to play part-time in order to remain in football, he was intending to give up the game and resume working as a welder.[2] He spent the 1975–76 season with Hartlepool United in the Fourth Division,[15] and then moved into non-league football with Whitby Town.


Sad news, he was one of my first Blades heroes.RIP
 
Last edited:
He replaced Hodgy the legend which was a big challenge and he excelled and he helped us gain promotion.

Compared to Hodgy he was a giant and had presence in the box. In the Prem he was under severe pressure and it knocked his confidence eventually.

Always liked him, he had rapport with the fans.
 

He was good to me and always spoke to me after matches when I was autograph hunting. He made an arrangement with my dad for him and Tony Currie to "surprise" me by paying a visit to my house on Tuesday evening in April 11th 1972 for about a hour and having a coffee and a chat. He was a key signing for the Blades promotion push in 1971 also the 10 unbeaten games (won 8 and drew 2) in the old first division. He was in the England u23s squad twice. I met up with John again at John Harris testimonial match in 1977 also at the 1971 promotion reunion (photo below) 5 years ago and he remembered me well

13781903_1713329535574981_8245890246433221534_n.jpg
 
This is a nice interview with him from a couple of years back...

http://www.thestar.co.uk/sport/foot...ited-john-hopes-the-best-for-howard-1-6512644

“I’m so looking forward to coming back,” Hope said. “Because Sheffield United means the world to me, it really does. Absolutely everything.

“In football terms, I still regard that as my home. I made so many friends there and good friends at that. Not just acquaintances.

“It’s a special club with so much history and so much to be proud of. But what really makes it so great is the people.

“There were some wonderful folk when I was there. Both on the pitch, the coaching staff and also behind the scenes.

“I’m sure it’s the same now because Sheffield United is a special place and one that will always be in my heart.”
 
sitwell said:
Have I read that right ,he didn't play the last 4 games of the season. I thought he did ,against Watford and Cardiff certainly ,I thought he played right through.
Click to expand...
Last 4 games of the 1971-72 season (Ipswich, Coventry, Palace and Wolves). He was dropped after the 4-0 home defeat to Derby, played for the reserves on the day McAlister made his league debut at Ipswich (scoreless draw, Ipswich's Colin Harper sent off for pushing the ref after the ref awarded us a penalty in which Bill Dearden missed)and got a bad knee injury which ruled him out of action for a year
 
Caveblade said:
John Hope, Newcastle United’s cover keeper in the 1969 European Fairs Cup final, has died suddenly at the age of 67.

John, who suffered from Parkinson’s Disease, was found dead in bed at his Stockton home.

Born in Shildon, John played for Darlington before Newcastle signed him in March of 69 for £8,000.

He was understudy to Willie McFaul and only played one first-team match at Manchester City before he was transferred to Sheffield United along with David Ford in exchange for John Tudor.

However John became a star at Bramall Lane being a regular first-teamer and helping them win promotion to the top flight in 1971.

Alan Foggon, who scored for Newcastle in the second leg of the Fairs Cup final in Budapest, arranged a do for John Hope at the Irish Club in Newcastle in January which was attended by several of his old team mates including Tony Currie and David who came up from Sheffield.

It raised £3,500 for John, who lived by himself, with a further £1,000 going to the Parkinson’s charity.

“John was a lovely man and we’re all shocked at the news,” Foggon told me. “We hold regular meetings in Newcastle for the old apprentices and reserve players from our era and John always came up on the bus from Stockton to attend despite having Parkinson’s.

“It’s so sudden it has caught us all out. He was a very popular member of our Fairs Cup squad.”

John’s two sons also played in the Football League.


In January 1971, Sheffield United exchanged striker John Tudor for Hope and forward David Ford.[7] Hope went straight into the starting eleven, replacing former England international goalkeeper Alan Hodgkinson. Of his home debut, in a 2–1 defeat of Luton Town on 6 February, the Guardian's correspondent wrote that he made some fine saves but "had a lot on his plate following the popular and long-serving Hodgkinson".[8] He kept his place as Sheffield United went on to clinch promotion to the First Division at the end of the season, with a run of results that included seven consecutive clean sheets, a club record that stood until beaten byMark Howard more than 40 years later.[9] According to team-mate Tony Currie, Hope "was a top line player who, like everyone else made a couple of mistakes, but because of his position they were highlighted more than the rest of us. John, though, had the heart of a lion. He was one of the bravest I've ever seen."[9]

After Peter Shilton injured a finger, Hope received a late call-up to the England under-23 squad for a January 1972 fixture against Wales, but Phil Parkes, originally selected as substitute for Shilton, played in the match.[10] Despite a poor performance in a 5–0 home defeat by Arsenal at the end of the month,[11][12] coinciding with unfounded rumours about his lifestyle, Hope was in Sheffield United's team for the next League match, a 3–3 draw with Manchester City,[13] and received a second call-up to the U23 squad, again as understudy to Parkes with Shilton injured.[12] He kept the starting place for most of that season,[14] but played relatively little thereafter. In January 1975, the Daily Mirror reported that Hope had been available on a free transfer for three months, no offers had come in for him, and although he would be willing to play part-time in order to remain in football, he was intending to give up the game and resume working as a welder.[2] He spent the 1975–76 season with Hartlepool United in the Fourth Division,[15] and then moved into non-league football with Whitby Town.


Sad news, he was one of my first Blades heroes.RIP
Click to expand...


I remember that 2-1 win over Luton Town. Luton were one of a handful of clubs contesting promotion with United that season. Super Mac was making all sorts of noises in the media threatening what he was going to do to United. Great times to be a United fan. I always liked John Hope and felt he was unlucky that every time he made a mistake it was on TV. I joined the RAF in 1971 and watched United lose 5-1 at West Ham in a League Cup Match on TV in the NAAFI (ask your dad) and John made a couple of errors.

RIP
 

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