Steve Harper

Newcastle United

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…

On 18 August 2016, Harper joined Newcastle United as academy goalkeeping coach. He left the club on 14 May 2019 after joining the senior Northern Ireland national team on 19 March 2019. Harper re-joined Newcastle on 22 November 2019 as first team coach, though he continued working with the Northern Ireland national team.

Harper was born in Easington Village, 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 Liverpool FC and Newcastle United FC

Newcastle United

Football League Championship: 2009–10 FA Cup runner-up: 1998–99 Hull City

FA Cup runner-up: 2013–14