| Richard Hope | |
| Fullname: | Richard Paul Hope[1] |
| Birth Date: | 22 June 1978 |
| Birth Place: | Stockton-on-Tees, England |
| Position: | Defender |
| Youthyears1: | 1991–1995 |
| Youthclubs1: | Blackburn Rovers |
| Years1: | 1995–1997 |
| Years2: | 1997 |
| Years3: | 1997–1998 |
| Years4: | 1998 |
| Years5: | 1998–2003 |
| Years6: | 2003–2004 |
| Years7: | 2004–2005 |
| Years8: | 2005–2007 |
| Years9: | 2007–2008 |
| Years10: | 2008–2009 |
| Clubs2: | → Darlington (loan) |
| Clubs4: | → Northampton Town (loan) |
| Clubs10: | Grimsby Town |
| Caps1: | 0 |
| Caps2: | 5 |
| Caps3: | 57 |
| Caps4: | 1 |
| Caps5: | 134 |
| Caps6: | 36 |
| Caps7: | 28 |
| Caps8: | 75 |
| Caps9: | 33 |
| Caps10: | 6 |
| Goals1: | 0 |
| Goals2: | 0 |
| Goals3: | 1 |
| Goals4: | 0 |
| Goals5: | 7 |
| Goals6: | 2 |
| Goals7: | 2 |
| Goals8: | 2 |
| Goals9: | 0 |
| Goals10: | 0 |
| Totalcaps: | 374 |
| Totalgoals: | 14 |
Richard Paul Hope (born 22 June 1978) is an English former footballer who played as a defender. He played for Darlington, Northampton Town, York City, Chester City, Shrewsbury Town, Wrexham and Grimsby Town, making over 350 appearances in the Football League.
Born in Stockton-on-Tees, Hope began his career as a trainee at Blackburn Rovers but made no appearances for the club.[2] He joined Darlington on one-month loan in January, which brought him his first league experience, and played five games in the Third Division.
He joined the club on a free transfer in the following month.[2] He was a regular for Darlington for the following season-and-a-half, making over 60 league and cup appearances,[2] but fell out of favour in the first half of the 1998–99 season and joined Northampton Town on loan in December 1998, which was quickly converted to a permanent signing a week later.[2]
Hope made over 150 appearances in four and a half seasons at Northampton, helping the club to automatic promotion to the Second Division in 2000.[3] Following the club's relegation to the Third Division at the end of the 2002–03 season, Hope was released by Northampton in August 2003.
Hope joined York City on a one-month contract in August 2003.[4] He then signed a three-month contract in the following month.[5] He stayed at York for the rest of the season but after the club was relegated to the Conference National at the end of the 2003–04 season he left the club.[6]
He then signed for Conference champions Chester City on a two-year contract.[7] Hope made 28 appearances in League Two for Chester in the 2004–05 season,[2] helping the club to avoid relegation.[8] He also scored in Chester's memorable Football League Trophy win over Sheffield Wednesday.[9]
Shrewsbury Town signed Hope on free transfer in August 2005 after being allowed to leave Chester as he did not feature in manager Keith Curle's plans for the 2005–06 season.[10] He became a regular for Shrewsbury and was made club captain.[11] He made over 75 appearances in two seasons, helping the club to the League Two play-off final in May 2007.[12] Following defeat in the play-off final, Hope was released by Shrewsbury.
His next port of call was to sign for Wrexham in June 2007.[13] [14] He made 35 league and cup appearances for Wrexham in the 2007–08 season but was transfer listed in May 2008 following the club's relegation to the Conference.[15]
He returned to League Two with a move to Grimsby Town after being handed a two-year contract by Alan Buckley in June.[16] However, after struggling to hold down a first team place, his contract at Grimsby was cancelled by mutual consent on 7 February 2009, departing Blundell Park after only featuring seven times during the 2008–09 season.[17]
After Hope retired from football, he retrained to work on oil rigs in the North Sea.[18] Hope's father, John, played League football as a goalkeeper, and his older brother Chris played as a defender.[19] [20]