Kevin Harper

Kevin Harper

Personal information
Full name	Kevin Patrick Harper
Position(s)	Midfielder / Forward
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)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 22:06, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

Kevin Patrick Harper (born January 15, 1976, in Oldham, Greater Manchester) is a Scottish football player. He is currently without a club following his release from Dunfermline Athletic in the Scottish First Division.

Career

Early career

Harper began his career with non-league Hutchison Vale as a youth. However, it was not long before the talented midfielder was snapped up by Hibernian, making his professional debut aged just 17. As a black player, Harper was in a small minority within Scottish football. 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.

England

Derby County manager Jim Smith signed Harper for £300,000 in September 1998. Despite clear potential, Harper failed to impress at Derby, and 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 faced the brunt of fan frustration after a disappointing season, finishing the campaign with 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, and his excellent performances down either wing for Portsmouth earned him two monthly 'Swan d'Or' awards from the Norwegian Press Club and a place in the full Scotland squad.

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 an opposing player in a match against Derby County. 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. 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.

Return to Scotland

On 7 July 2007, Harper opted to join Dunfermline Athletic, of the Scottish First Division. 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 March 25, 2008, he scored a hat-trick in the re-arranged fixture against First Division strugglers Stirling Albion, whom he had scored his only other goal of the season against a few months earlier.

Career statistics

Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |1993-94||rowspan="6"|Hibernian||rowspan="5"|Premier Division||2||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||2||0 |- |1994-95||23||5||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||23||5 |- |1995-96||16||3||1||0||2||0||colspan="2"|-||19||3 |- |1996-97||27||5||4||0||1||0||colspan="2"|-||32||5 |- |1997-98||27||1||1||0||1||0||colspan="2"|-||29||1 |- |1998-99||First Division||2||1||colspan="2"|-||1||0||colspan="2"|-||3||1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |1998-99||rowspan="2"|Derby County||rowspan="2"|Premier League||27||1||3||1||3||0||colspan="2"|-||33||2 |- |1999-00||5||0||colspan="2"|-||3||0||colspan="2"|-||8||0 |- |1999-00||Walsall||First Division||9||1||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||9||1 |- |1999-00||rowspan="5"|Portsmouth||rowspan="4"|First Division||12||2||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||12||2 |- |2000-01||24||2||1||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||25||2 |- |2001-02||39||1||1||0||1||0||colspan="2"|-||41||1 |- |2002-03||37||4||1||0||2||0||colspan="2"|-||40||4 |- |2003-04||Premier League||7||0||2||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||9||0 |- |2003-04||Norwich City||First Division||9||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||9||0 |- |2004-05||Portsmouth||Premier League||0||0||colspan="2"|-||1||0||colspan="2"|-||1||0 |- |2004-05||Leicester City||Championship||2||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||2||0 |- |2004-05||rowspan="2"|Stoke City||rowspan="2"|Championship||9||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||9||0 |- |2005-06||14||1||2||0||1||0||colspan="2"|-||17||1 |- |2006-07||Walsall||League Two||10||4||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||10||4 |- |2006-07||Stoke City||Championship||3||0||colspan="2"|-||1||0||colspan="2"|-||4||0 |- |2006-07||Carlisle United||League One||7||0||1||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||8||0 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2007-08||rowspan="2"|Dunfermline Athletic||rowspan="2"|First Division||15||4||1||0||colspan="2"|-||2||0||18||4 |- |2008-09||14||1||0||0||4||0||0||0||18||1 Template:Football player statistics 3126||20||7||0||9||0||2||0||144||20 Template:Football player statistics 4214||16||11||1||12||0||colspan="2"|-||237||17 Template:Football player statistics 5340||36||18||1||21||0||2||0||381||37 |}

Personal life

A month after joining Dunfermline Athletic, Harper was banned from driving for four months and fined £300 for driving over 100 mph near Lockerbie. In October 2008, Harper admitted assaulting his wife by punching, kicking and spitting on her.

See also

• Dunfermline Athletic F.C. season 2007-08 | 2008-09

External links

• Kevin Harper at Soccerbase
• Profile at dafc.co.uk