Joe Harper

Born in Greenock, Harper started his professional career with home-town club Morton, and returned to the club after a brief, unhappy spell with Huddersfield Town. He had at times a difficult relationship with some Morton supporters, but most fans recognised his ability and enthusiasm. He played for Morton against Chelsea in the Fairs Cup. Harper scored 74 goals in 122 appearances for Morton across both spells. Morton sold him for £35,000 to Huddersfield Town. He later returned to Morton for £15,000. In 1969, Aberdeen manager Eddie Turnbull paid £40,000 to sign Harper, and in his first season with the Dons he helped them win the Scottish Cup for the second time in their history; Harper opened the scoring from the penalty spot as overwhelming pre-match favourites Celtic were defeated 3–1. He rapidly developed a reputation as a prodigious goalscorer and following a record-breaking haul of 33 goals in 34 league games in the 1971–72 season was the subject of much interest from English scouts. Everton paid £180,000 for his services in December 1972 but his time in English football was not as productive as his Aberdeen spell and he returned to Scotland with Hibernian in early 1974, for the second time signed by Eddie Turnbull who had by this stage moved to Easter Road. Overweight and unfit when he arrived at Hibs, Harper struggled to rediscover his Aberdeen-era form in Edinburgh. He scored a hat-trick in the 1974 Scottish League Cup Final, but Dixie Deans also scored a hat-trick as…

Harper was involved in a Scotland overseas tour in 1967, scoring five times (some reports credit him with only three goals, assigning the others to Willie Morgan and an own goal) against a Canada Olympic team; in October 2021 the Scottish Football Association decided to reclassify this game as a full international. Depending on sourcing, this either retroactively set a new Scottish international record of goals in a match, or equalled Hughie Gallacher's 1929 feat (there being an element of uncertainty of whether Gallacher scored four or five times). He next played for Scotland in October 1972, scoring in a 4–1 win against Denmark, and also took part in the following fixture but then fell out of the international reckoning, only earning a recall in 1975. By coincidence, that occasion was another away match with Denmark, but this was overshadowed by a controversial off-field incident; Harper and several teammates were given lifetime bans by the SFA after it was alleged that they had been involved in a nightclub incident where a light was broken and an altercation followed. Harper later said that he had been punished because he had returned to the team base in the same taxi as the other players. The ban on Harper and Arthur Graham was lifted a year later. Harper was selected in the squad for the 1978 FIFA World Cup. He appeared in the 1–1 draw against Iran, which was also his last international appearance, as Scotland exited in the first round.

Club

International

Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first

In 1981 Harper was appointed manager of then Highland League side Peterhead. He helped the Blue Toon to a second place league finish but his reported wages were beyond the club's means and he was replaced for the 1982–83 season by former Pittodrie teammate Dave Smith. Harper later managed Huntly from June 1988 after a successful spell at junior club Rosslyn Sport (which was also the name of a sports shop in Aberdeen, the club later merged with Muggiemoss to form Dyce Juniors F.C.) which he joined the year before. He was then succeeded at Huntly by Steve Paterson in October 1990., He then soon became co-manager at Deveronvale with existing manager Billy Anderson until November 1992. Harper has also been a columnist for the Aberdeen Evening Express. An autobiography, which was co-written by Evening Express sports editor Charlie Allan, was published in 2008. Harper was appointed honorary Club President of Aberdeenshire Amateur League side Halliburton AFC in 2009. In the early 21st century he often worked on home match days for Aberdeen in as the host of the 'Legends' Hospitality Lounge of the Richard Donald stand at Pittodrie Stadium.