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 by
Mark 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
