Stephen Harper is an English goalkeeper born on March 14, 1975, in the mining village of Easington, County Durham. He went to the Easington Comprehensive School and has a social sciences degree from the Open University. As a child, he cheered Liverpool and was a fan of its goalkeeper Bruce David Grobbelaar.
Stephen Harper joined the local youth club, Seaham Red Star in 1992-93, and later he was signed by Newcastle United in 1993 for a nominal fee. He was loaned to Bradford City in 1995 and played in one match for the club. In 1996, he moved to Gateshead on a loan and appeared in 12 games, and in 1997 he joined Stockport County. Later, Stephen Harper was loaned to Hartlepool United, and he played 18 games for the club before joining Huddersfield Town for the 1997-98 season. After returning back to Newcastle United, he was spotted in the 1999 Football Association (FA) Cup final against Manchester United. In the 2002 United European Football Association (UEFA) Champions League match played at St. James park against Juventus, the Italian champions, Stephen Harper maintained a clean sheet and his club went on to win the match 1-0, qualifying the group stages. In 2006, he signed a new three-year contract with the club and played in the match against Liverpool on September 20, 2006. He will be always remembered for his save against Manchester City in November 2006 and for the clean sheet, which he maintained against Chelsea. In the friendly match against Celtic on July 26, 2007, Stephen Harper came on as a substitute and played as a striker. In the season of 2007-08, he started in the first 6 Premiership games, keeping a clean sheet in 2 of the matches. A series of good performances in the 2007-08 season attracted Liverpool and it made an offer, but the Newcastle manager, Kevin Keegan, wanted to retain Stephen Harper.
He is one of the few professional football players to hold a FA-approved referee’s license, and he plans to take up refereeing once he retires from playing football. Other than playing football, Stephen Harper likes to read books and play golf, the latter he does with Alan Shearer, his former Newcastle United teammate.
