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Steve Harper
"I hadn't played for a while ... you're walking along shaking hands and you're thinking 'That's Pavel Nedvěd and that's Del Piero' and there's the Champions League music blaring."
Stephen Alan Harper (born 14 March 1975) is an English former professional footballer, and currently first team coach for Newcastle United and goalkeeping coach for the Northern Ireland national team. He is best known for his time playing at Newcastle, having amassed 157 league appearances over a twenty-year period between 1993 and 2013. Although he was not always the first choice goalkeeper at Newcastle, he was the longest-serving player in the club's history.
Harper was born in Seaham, County Durham. He grew up in the mining village of Easington, County Durham, and studied Sport at the East Durham College. He was interested in football from a young age and goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar was his idol. Anfield was the first football ground he went to, where he watched Liverpool win a match 2–0 in the 1982–83 season. Harper attended Easington Comprehensive School. He was offered a place at Liverpool John Moores University.
Harper was a boyhood fan of Sunderland A.F.C.
In 1993, he was signed by Newcastle United from his local club Seaham Red Star, for a nominal fee.
Seen as back-up to first-choice goalkeeper Pavel Srníček after his arrival at Newcastle, and then Shaka Hislop and subsequently Shay Given; he had loan spells at Bradford City, Gateshead, Stockport County, Hartlepool United and Huddersfield Town before making his first-team debut as a half time substitute against Wimbledon in 1998. At this point Harper achieved the rare feat of making an appearance in each of the top five divisions of the English game.
Harper came close to dislodging Given on numerous occasions, most notably in the 1998–99 season. Harper played in the 1999 FA Cup Final, when Newcastle lost 2–0 to Manchester United. Then-manager Ruud Gullit appeared to see Harper worthy of playing over Given. However, at the start of the 1999–2000 season, Gullit resigned and Harper again became second choice goalkeeper, although he did enjoy another brief period of first team action for part of the season when Given was injured. When Given returned from injury, Harper was once again used as the back-up goalkeeper.
In 2002, he made several appearances in the UEFA Champions League, most notably against Juventus. The match was played at St James' Park and Harper managed to keep a clean sheet during a 1–0 win over the Italian champions. The victory helped Newcastle qualify from the group stages of the tournament. Harper has handed in a transfer request in his time with Newcastle, citing lack of regular first team football as his reason (something which Given also did when Harper kept him out of the team under Gullit). He has been linked with moves to West Bromwich Albion, Celtic, Watford, Rangers, and Liverpool in his time with Newcastle, though none of these purported moves came to fruition.
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Steve Harper
"I hadn't played for a while ... you're walking along shaking hands and you're thinking 'That's Pavel Nedvěd and that's Del Piero' and there's the Champions League music blaring."
Stephen Alan Harper (born 14 March 1975) is an English former professional footballer, and currently first team coach for Newcastle United and goalkeeping coach for the Northern Ireland national team. He is best known for his time playing at Newcastle, having amassed 157 league appearances over a twenty-year period between 1993 and 2013. Although he was not always the first choice goalkeeper at Newcastle, he was the longest-serving player in the club's history.
Harper was born in Seaham, County Durham. He grew up in the mining village of Easington, County Durham, and studied Sport at the East Durham College. He was interested in football from a young age and goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar was his idol. Anfield was the first football ground he went to, where he watched Liverpool win a match 2–0 in the 1982–83 season. Harper attended Easington Comprehensive School. He was offered a place at Liverpool John Moores University.
Harper was a boyhood fan of Sunderland A.F.C.
In 1993, he was signed by Newcastle United from his local club Seaham Red Star, for a nominal fee.
Seen as back-up to first-choice goalkeeper Pavel Srníček after his arrival at Newcastle, and then Shaka Hislop and subsequently Shay Given; he had loan spells at Bradford City, Gateshead, Stockport County, Hartlepool United and Huddersfield Town before making his first-team debut as a half time substitute against Wimbledon in 1998. At this point Harper achieved the rare feat of making an appearance in each of the top five divisions of the English game.
Harper came close to dislodging Given on numerous occasions, most notably in the 1998–99 season. Harper played in the 1999 FA Cup Final, when Newcastle lost 2–0 to Manchester United. Then-manager Ruud Gullit appeared to see Harper worthy of playing over Given. However, at the start of the 1999–2000 season, Gullit resigned and Harper again became second choice goalkeeper, although he did enjoy another brief period of first team action for part of the season when Given was injured. When Given returned from injury, Harper was once again used as the back-up goalkeeper.
In 2002, he made several appearances in the UEFA Champions League, most notably against Juventus. The match was played at St James' Park and Harper managed to keep a clean sheet during a 1–0 win over the Italian champions. The victory helped Newcastle qualify from the group stages of the tournament. Harper has handed in a transfer request in his time with Newcastle, citing lack of regular first team football as his reason (something which Given also did when Harper kept him out of the team under Gullit). He has been linked with moves to West Bromwich Albion, Celtic, Watford, Rangers, and Liverpool in his time with Newcastle, though none of these purported moves came to fruition.