Kevin Harper

Kevin Patrick Harper (born 15 January 1976) is a football coach and former player. He played as a winger for Hibernian, Derby County, Walsall, Portsmouth, Norwich City, Leicester City, Stoke City, Carlisle United and Dunfermline Athletic. Born in England, played for the Scotland U21 national team. He managed Scottish League Two side Albion Rovers from November 2018 to May 2020.

Kevin Harper
Personal information
Full name Kevin Patrick Harper[1]
Date of birth (1976-01-15) 15 January 1976
Place of birth Oldham, England
Position(s) Winger
Youth career
1992 Hutchison Vale
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1992–1998 Hibernian 94 (15)
1998–2000 Derby County 32 (1)
1999–2000 → Walsall (loan) 9 (1)
2000–2005 Portsmouth 119 (9)
2003 → Norwich City (loan) 9 (0)
2004 → Leicester City (loan) 2 (0)
2005–2007 Stoke City 26 (1)
2006–2007 → Carlisle United (loan) 7 (0)
2007 → Walsall (loan) 10 (4)
2007–2009 Dunfermline Athletic 29 (5)
2015–2016 Thorniewood United 7 (0)
Total 337 (36)
International career
1995–1997 Scotland U21[2] 7 (4)
Managerial career
2018–2020 Albion Rovers
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Personal life

Harper was born in Oldham and raised in Glasgow's Possilpark area,[3] attending St. Theresa's Primary and St. Augustine's Secondary School.[4]

Playing career

Hibernian

Harper played for youth club Hutchison Vale in Edinburgh before he was signed by Hibernian and made his professional debut aged just 17.[5] As a black footballer, Harper was in a small minority within Scottish football.[5] He was unhappy that having claimed Gary Mackay had racially abused him during an Edinburgh derby game in November 1996, the SFA did not take action in response to his complaint.[5][6]

England

Derby County manager Jim Smith signed Harper for £300,000 in September 1998.[5] Harper scored two goals for Derby; one against Liverpool in the league[7] and one against Swansea City in the FA Cup.[8] He was loaned out to Walsall in December 1999 for the remainder of the season.

His spell at Walsall was cut short when Portsmouth made an offer of £300,000 for his services in March 2000. Harper moved to Fratton Park having started only seven games for Derby. The Scottish under-21 international soon settled into the team at Portsmouth, but missed much of the 2000–01 season with a shin splints problem. In 2001–02 he had the dubious honour of having been sent off (twice) more times than he scored (once). However, he was a crucial member of the side that won the First Division title in 2002–03.

Despite his impressive part in Portsmouth's promotion, Harper was loaned out to Norwich in September 2003. His loan spell at Carrow Road was initially for one month but was extended to three months. He played well at Norwich, but was also sent off for a two-footed tackle on Luciano Zavagno in a match against Derby County.[9] He contributed nine league appearances during Norwich's 2003/04 season after which they were promoted to the Premier League as First Division champions in his absence.[10] On his return to Fratton Park he made only nine appearances for Portsmouth in the 2003–04 season. After failing to regain his place at the start of the 2004–05 season he was loaned to Leicester City.

In January 2005 was sold to Stoke City. Despite starting his Stoke career impressively, Harper was dogged by injuries that prevented him challenging for a first team place. He scored once for Stoke, in a 3–1 win over Norwich City.[11] Harper was loaned to Carlisle United in October 2006 and then Walsall, whom he had played for on loan earlier in his career. He was released by Stoke manager Tony Pulis in May 2007.[12]

Return to Scotland

On 7 July 2007, Harper opted to join Dunfermline Athletic, of the Scottish First Division.[13] He scored the winning goal against Stirling Albion on 25 August 2007 and played in Dunfermline's UEFA Cup matches at home 16 August and away 30 August against BK Hacken FC of Sweden. Harper's season was rather inconsistent, though on 25 March 2008 he scored a hat-trick in a re-arranged fixture against First Division strugglers Stirling Albion.[14]

Coaching career

Following the departure of their Under 20s coach, SPFL side Airdrieonians appointed Harper as the replacement in July 2015. He left this post in September 2015.[15] Harper has also set up his own football academy based in Stepps.[16]

In November 2015, Thorniewood United manager and former Hibernian team-mate Andy Frame, persuaded Harper to come out of retirement and join the club in a player-coach role.[17]

Harper was appointed Albion Rovers manager in November 2018.[18][19] He became the first black, Asian or minority ethnic manager of a Scottish club since Márcio Máximo in 2003.[20] A struggling Rovers side won none of their first 12 matches under Harper, but then won five of their last nine fixtures in 2018–19 Scottish League Two to avoid relegation.[21] In May 2019, Harper extended his contract with the club to the end of the 2019–20 season.[21] Albion again avoided relegation by finishing ninth in that season, but Harper decided to leave the club at the end of his contract in May 2020.[22] Harper later revealed that, despite having avoided relegation again with a very poor 9th-place finish, he had been offered reduced terms, in line with a greatly reduced club budget due to prevailing circumstances, to stay and believed the board could match the ambition he had for the club.[23]

In June 2020, Harper appeared in a special podcast panel discussing his experiences of racism in football with A View from the Terrace host Craig Fowler.[24]

On 15th November 2022, Lochee United appoint Hibs first team scout Kevin Harper as new manager.[25]

On 4th June 2023 Kevin Harper join Thorniewood United as player-coach. [26]


Career statistics

Club
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[27]
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Europe Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Hibernian 1993–94 Scottish Premier Division 2000000020
1994–95 Scottish Premier Division 235000000235
1995–96 Scottish Premier Division 163102000193
1996–97 Scottish Premier Division 275401000325
1997–98 Scottish Premier Division 271101000291
1998–99 Scottish First Division 2100100031
Total 971560500010815
Derby County 1998–99 Premier League 271313000332
1999–2000 Premier League 5000300080
Total 321316000412
Walsall (loan) 1999–2000 First Division 9100000091
Portsmouth 1999–2000 First Division 122000000122
2000–01 First Division 242100000252
2001–02 First Division 391101000411
2002–03 First Division 374102000404
2003–04 Premier League 7020000094
2004–05 Premier League 0000100010
Total 11995040001289
Norwich City (loan) 2003–04 First Division 9000000090
Leicester City (loan) 2004–05 Championship 2000000020
Stoke City 2004–05 Championship 9000000090
2005–06 Championship 141201000171
2006–07 Championship 3000100040
Total 261202000301
Carlisle United (loan) 2006–07 League One 7000100080
Walsall (loan) 2006–07 League One 104000000104
Dunfermline Athletic 2007–08 Scottish First Division 154100020184
2008–09 Scottish First Division 141004000181
Total 295104020365
Career total 340361712202038137

Managerial statistics
As of match played 7 March 2020
Team Nat From To Record
G W D L GF GA GD Win %
Albion Rovers Scotland November 2018 May 2020 58 14 13 31 68 112 −44 024.14
Total 58 14 13 31 68 112 −44 024.14

References
  1. "Kevin Harper". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  2. "Scotland U21 Player Kevin Harper Details".
  3. Kevin Harper on his past and building a football academy
  4. Ideally suited to face up to racism Why the boy from Possil is mystified over Scots game
  5. Greig, Martin (25 November 1996). "Ideally suited to face up to racism Why the boy from Possil is mystified over Scots game". The Herald. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
  6. Bell, Ian (14 January 2001). "Accentuate the negative; The head-in-the-sand attitude of Scottish". Sunday Herald. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
  7. "Derby dent Liverpool title hopes". BBC Sport. 11 November 1998. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
  8. "Derby given glimpse of future by Smith's blast from the past". The Independent. 25 January 1999. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
  9. "Norwich 2-1 Derby". BBC Sport. 21 October 2003. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  10. "Games played by Kevin Harper in 2003/2004". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  11. "Stoke 3–1 Norwich". BBC Sport. 29 August 2005. Retrieved 12 January 2010.
  12. "Trio released by Stoke boss Pulis". BBC Sport. 18 May 2007. Retrieved 18 May 2007.
  13. "Dunfermline pick up winger Harper". BBC Sport. 7 July 2007. Retrieved 7 July 2007.
  14. "Stirling Albion v Dunfermline". BBC Sport. 25 March 2008. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  15. "Harps steps down". airdriefc.com. Airdrieonians FC. 16 September 2015. Archived from the original on 17 February 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  16. Goldthorp, Craig (20 January 2016). "Ex-Hibs winger Kevin Harper back playing football". Edinburgh Evening News. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  17. Wilson, Fraser (22 November 2015). "Former Hibs star Kevin Harper drops to junior football to help out an old pal at Thorniewood United". Daily Record. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  18. "Kevin Harper – New Manager". Albion Rovers FC. 6 November 2018. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  19. "Kevin Harper's appointment at Albion Rovers is a significant moment". The Scotsman. Johnston Press. 7 November 2018. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  20. Winton, Richard (22 November 2018). "Kevin Harper: Albion Rovers manager is Scotland's first black boss in 15 years". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  21. "Kevin Harper: Albion Rovers manager signs deal for next season". BBC Sport. 16 May 2019. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  22. "Kevin Harper leaves Scottish League Two side Albion Rovers after contract expires". BBC Sport. 8 May 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  23. "Former Hibs winger Kevin Harper quits as Albion Rovers manager after being offered less money to stay". edinburghnews.scotsman.com. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  24. "The Terrace Podcast- Racism". terracepodcast.net.
  25. https://pressat.co.uk/releases/lochee-united-appoint-hibs-first-team-scout-kevin-harper-as-new-manager-2bd192b6daa1bb4167deec32b46c0ee6/#:~:text=Harper%2C%20who%20is%20unveiled%20as%20the%20new%20club,its%20five-year%20plan%20to%20become%20Dundee%E2%80%99s%20%E2%80%9Cthird%E2%80%9D%20team.
  26. https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/former-hibs-star-kevin-harper-6872438?utm_source=mynewsassistant.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=embedded_search_item_mobile
  27. "Kevin Harper". Soccerbase. Retrieved 28 November 2013.
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