[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.
[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.
[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.
[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.