Tom Pope takes place in FA Cup spotlight again after making John Stones squirm

After being injured on England duty last week, John Stones will have a bit of time on his hands this weekend.

There will be a bit of recovery, no doubt, and he might swing by the Manchester City training ground to catch up on preparations for the Manchester derby.

If he's stuck for something to do though, he might consider coverage of the FA Cup third qualifying round on the BBC, and the exploits of a familiar face.

Congleton Town, the lowest-ranked side in the competition, face National League North high-flyers AFC Fylde in the third qualifying round on Saturday lunchtime live on the channel's interactive services. The Bears play in the North West Counties Premier Division - the ninth-tier of English football - 73 places below their opponents in the pyramid, and miles below Stones and City.

But in forward Tom Pope, they possess a player well known to the 60-times capped England defender.

Pope will be looking to create yet more history with his Congleton side ready to cause an upset. The 37-year-old has previous with the world's oldest cup competition, having scored for Port Vale at Manchester City in the third round proper back in January 2020, when a tweet of his about Stones went viral.

It was a goal Pope dreamt of scoring and now he has another chance to conjure-up more lasting memories with the striker plying his trade at Step 5 in non-league. He is expected to lead the line for the Bears at the weekend, as they try and reach the fourth qualifying round for the first time in their history.

He told Mirror Football: "You dream of those moments (the goal vs Man City). I didn't anticipate something like that happening, but these things do happen. It's going to be a different game on Saturday, we're at home, there isn't going to be 50-odd thousand, like there was that day.

"There's probably not going to be a thousand, but for a lot of our young lads, it's probably going to be the biggest crowd they've played in front of. It's a big pressure game and hopefully we nick a goal and win the game one-nil.

"It's going to be a tough afternoon for us, but I fancy our chances, we've got some great young quality in there, a lot of energy and legs. Sometimes in non-league, your fitness can show against better opposition but we're fit, and that can close the gap on the quality between the opponents."

He added: "Fylde are a great side, especially for the National League North, they spent a lot of money, so it'll be good for the young lads to compete against better opposition. It's going to be a good game for us, as we've got a lot of young players and it'll help to drive them."

Pope dropped out of the professional game in the summer of 2021 after being released at Port Vale by new manager Darrell Clarke, bringing an end to his time at Vale Park. The Stoke-born striker scored 115 goals in 343 appearances across two spells, with Pope also featuring for Bury and Rotherham throughout his career.

However, he decided to drop down six divisions with Congleton and explore a new challenge in the non-league game. Despite receiving offers from teams higher up in the pyramid, Pope decided to stay local and it paid off, with the veteran scoring 20 goals in all competitions last season.

"When I finished [at Port Vale], I had a burst shoulder and I had to have three injections in it," he said. "There were a few professional clubs that wanted me to come in and have a look but with the state of my shoulder, there was no way I could do that.

"So, I ended up training with my mates at Congleton. Duffs (Richard Duffy), who is the manager, was my teammate at Vale. They ended up offering my something and I thought, you know what, sod it. Everywhere else seemed motorways away, long drives and at this stage of my career, I wanted to stay as local as possible and try and enjoy my football again."

One of Pope's finest moments in his career came in Vale's defeat at Man City just over two years ago. In the summer beforehand, Pope took to social media and blasted Stones.

He tweeted: "Just watched the highlights of the England game! I know I'm a league 2 player, I know he plays for England, I know he's on £150k a week, I know he's a million times better player than me but I'd love to play against John Stones every week! I'd get 40 a season!"

Just six months later and Pope was set to come up against the England international in the FA Cup, as League Two Vale travelled to the Etihad Stadium. Vale fell behind to an Oleksandr Zinchenko goal, but the best moment of the game came 19 minutes before half-time when yes, you've guessed it, Pope equalised for the League Two side. It's fair to say he was delighted.

After the game, Pope went viral again for another tweet about Stones. He tweeted: "Sorry I can't reply to everyone it's gone mental! I'd just like to say I was completely wrong and bang out of order to say I'd score 40 a season..... it's more like 50, enjoy your weekend."

Since that moment, some fans have called Pope to become a pundit and it is an idea he isn't shutting off anytime soon. "You see people on the TV that look after their mates, but I'm quite honest, I'm a character and people find that funny," he continued.

"I would love a pundit job, I think I speak a lot of sense, although I do get myself into a bit of trouble on social media. I do think I'm intelligent on that side, so it's something I would like to do, yes. I back myself, I always tell the truth and I don't beat round the bush. I think people would enjoy what I would like to say."

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