Prodigal son Steve Harper has returned to St James Park to take on a role at the Academy, ITV has revealed.
Harper joined the Magpies in 1993 as an 18 year-old and went on to make 199 appearances in his 20 years at the club. He was here during Keegan’s golden age but had to wait until after he left to make his first team debut.
He was an almost ever-present the last time we fell into the Championship, playing 45 of the 46 games in 2009-10.
Having been at Hull for a couple of seasons since leaving, as well as Sunderland, he has been appointed as the Academy goalkeeping coach. Harper was happy to be returning to Tyneside and relishing the challenge of being involved with nurturing future generations of stoppers. Hopefully one or two will prove good enough to make it to the first team.
Representing the club in domestic and European games gives Harper a wealth of experience to pass onto the club’s youngsters and will work at Little Benton with the under 16 age group.