Steve Harper
| Full Name: | Stephen Alan Harper |
| Date of Birth: | 14-March-1975 |
| Place of Birth: | Easington, England |
| Height: | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) |
| Current Team: | Newcastle United |
| Number: | 13 |
| Playing Position: | Goalkeeper |
Stephen Alan "Steve" Harper (born March 14, 1975 in Easington, County Durham) is an English football goalkeeper. He currently plays for Newcastle United.
Harper attended Easington Comprehensive School. He was signed by Newcastle in 1993 from his local club Seaham Red Star for a nominal fee.
Seen as back-up to regular starter Pavel Srníček, later Shaka Hislop and then Shay Given, he has had loan spells at Bradford City, Gateshead, Stockport County, Hartlepool United and Huddersfield Town, and after 15 years has yet to establish himself as first choice goalkeeper for Newcastle.
Harper has come close to dislodging Given on numerous occasions, most notably in 1998-1999 season, when manager Ruud Gullit saw 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 1999-2000 season when Given was injured.
Harper has handed in a transfer request in his time with Newcastle, citing 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 and Rangers in his time with Newcastle, though none of these moves were finalised.
He again expressed his desire to achieve first team football in June 2006 - an act which saw then manager Glenn Roeder state his belief that he, and Newcastle , have the two best goalkeepers in the Premiership in both Shay Given and Harper and his intentions to do everything within his power to persuade Harper to remain with the club. This appeared to work as he signed a new contract to keep him at St. James' Park until June 2009.
An injury to Given early in the 2006-07 season gave Harper another chance to prove his worth in the first team. However, he did not have the best start to first team action as Newcastle lost 2-0 to Liverpool on September 20, 2006. While the first goal was a clinical but fairly routine strike from Dirk Kuyt, and was no fault of Harper's, the second goal was quite unforgettable - a spectacular 65 yard shot from Xabi Alonso which saw Harper fall over while backpedaling to reach it, although admirably he did still attempt to get up and stop it.
Despite this setback Harper gave some excellent performances in the season.
One particular moment is his wonderful save against Manchester City in early November. Harper also received another run in the first team after a third injury to Given later that season, the highlight of this would be keeping a clean sheet against Chelsea, a feat only matched by 2 other keepers that season.
Harper continued as Newcastle's goalkeeper at the beginning of the 2007-08 season under the then new boss Sam Allardyce.
With Given struggling with the groin injury that had plagued him for many months, and rookie Tim Krul on loan at Falkirk, Harper was able to start the first 6 Premiership games, keeping 2 clean sheets.
Harper lost his place again when Given was fit, though another injury to Given later in the season allowed Harper to again gain more first team appearances under new boss, and the manager who first brought him to Newcastle, Kevin Keegan.
Trivia
Harper is also a FA-approved referee - one of the few professional footballers to have earned their referee's license. This was subject to analysis during Sky Sports News' Respect The Ref campaign, where appointing former footballers as referees was seen as a way to increase the respect shown to referees on the pitch.