Famous Players – The 2010’s

Tom Pope

Iconic player of the 10’s

Powerful forward Tom Pope first joined the Vale, the club he supports, on loan from Rotherham United and scored his first goals in a televised win over Bradford City. Tom subsequently joined the Valiants on a permanent basis in the summer of 2011.

He enjoyed a mercurial rise in 2013 as he finished as the league’s top scorer with 33 goals and was named League Two player of the season helping Vale to promotion in the process. The following season he adapted well to League One as he finished as Vale’s leading scorer with 16 goals. He also picked up a second, successive Player of the Year award.

Pope struggled with injuries during the 2014-15 season but still managed to finish as top-scorer with 12 goals. However, in the summer the Valiants decided to offer him a reduced contract and he instead opted to move to rivals Bury ending a four and a half year stay at the club.

In the summer of 2017 he ended his two years at Bury and rejoined the Vale. After a prolific spell he was named the League Two player of the month for October 2017 and was crowned the club’s Player of the Year for a record third time.

In March 2019, Pope reached the milestone of a hundred goals for the club after scoring a penalty against Northampton Town and in 2019-20 he became the club’s record post-war scorer as he passed Martin Foyle’s total of 108.

He was one of fifteen players to be released at the end of the 2020-21 season which brought to an end his memorable playing time at the club.

Tom was inducted into the Stoke-on-Trent Sporting Hall of Fame in 2021.