CAUGHT IN THE ACT: John hope in action for Sheffield United, where he made 63 Football League appearances. He had previously made 14 League appearances for Darlington, 1 for Newcastle united and later 23 for Hartlepool United, a total of 101 Football League appearances

MAN ABOUT TOON: At St James' Park, goalkeeper John Hope standing to the right of first choice Newcastle United keeper Iam McFaul. Top right is Frank Clark and the manager in shirt and tie is Joe Harvey

SHILDON born goalkeeper John Hope, who sadly died earlier this year, had one or two interesting facts associated with his Football League career.

First of all during a period of eight Football League appearances, spread over 5 years, he appeared in all four divisions of the Football League, as follows:

1 For Darlington in Division 3 on March 11, 1967 v Torquay away lost 2-0.

2 For Darlington in Division 4 on October 7, 1967 v Barnsley home lost 2-0

3 For Darlington in Division 4 on October 14, 1967 v Wrexham away lost 3-1

4 For Darlington in Division 4 on March 29, 1968 v Doncaster away lost 2-1

5 For Darlington in Division 4 on April 1, 1968 v Crewe home drew 0-0

6 For Darlington in Division 4 on April 6, 1968 v Bradford PA drew 0-0

7 For Newcastle United United in Division 1 on May 5, 1969, away lost 1-0

8 For Sheffield United in Division 2 on February 6, 1971, home to Luton Town won 2-1

After leaving school John worked as a welder for six months before signing as an apprentice professional with his local Football League club, Darlington.

He made his Quaker debut on April 26, 1965, away at Brighton and Hove Albion, when Darlington, with Lol Morgan as the new player-manager, were still in the 4th Division.

The Quaker's team that day which lost 3-1 was Hope, Peverall, Morgan, Yeoman, Greener, Atkinson, McGeachie, Maltby, Lawton, O'Neill, Burlison.

John was the fourth goalkeeper that Darlington used in that 1964-65 season the other three were Jim O'Neill, with 29 appearances, Frank Fleming, two appearances, former Crook Town goalkeeper Ray Snowball, 12 appearances, and John with 1 appearance.

Darlington then bought Tony Moor from York City to play in goal and Moor was an ever present in the 1965-66 season as the Quakers won promotion from the 4th Division into Division 3.

John's next run of appearances for Darlington was in Division 3. He made seven appearances with the final one as listed above on March 11, 1967, against Torquay away from home.

John was then transferred to Newcastle United in March 1969 for £8,000 and made his debut in a 1-0 defeat at Manchester City on May 5, 1969. However, such was the form of Ian McFaul in goal that John's appearances for the Magpies were strictly limited and although he was an unused sub in the Fairs Cup winning squad of 1968-69 he never made another Football League appearance for the Magpies.

In January 1971, Newcastle United swapped John and forward David Ford for Sheffield United's John Tudor.

So John made his debut in Division 2 for Sheffield United at home to Luton Town on February 6, 1971, a game Sheffield won 2-1. The match report said that John made some fine saves but had a lot on his plate following the popular and long-serving Alan Hodgkinson. He did though keep his place as Sheffield United went on to gain promotion to Division 1. They also had a run of seven clean sheets, a club record that stood for for more than 40 years until beaten by Mark Howard.

John's form fluctuated at Sheffield and after that initial season he was not a regular between the sticks for much longer although he did notch 63 Football League appearances for the Blades and twice was called up into England's Under 23 squad when Peter Shilton was injured, but Phil Parkes played in goal on those two occasions. In January 1975 John was made available for transfer and he joined Hartlepool United for 1975-76. One of Sheffield Uniited's greatest players Tony Currie had this to say, "Hope was a top line player who, like everyone else, made a couple of mistakes, but because of his position this was highlighted more than the rest of us. He was one of the bravest I have ever seen."

John made 23 appearances for Hartlepool before joining non-league Whitby Town. He later managed Northern League Willington and in the mid 1990's was back at Feethams helping with the Junior players.

He died July 18, this year, aged 67.