Steve Harper has talked to Newcastle World TV on the final game of the season at Everton on Sunday, and we know that Kevin wants the goalkeeper on a new contract at Newcastle before next season starts.
Steve Harper - in terrific form for Newcastle since Keegan arrived
Harper talked to Newcastle World TV today:
“It’s a big game for Everton because they only need a point for UEFA Cup football,”
“We’re going there knowing that we are safe but also knowing that it would be fantastic to finish with a win going into the summer.”
“There’ll be thousands of Geordies there and we’ll be giving it our all so that hopefully we can send them home happy ahead of next season.”
“We showed against Chelsea how much improvement there has been under Kevin, and if we can find a performance like the first-half in that game then we’ll have a good chance of getting a result.”
Steve has been one of the many successes under Kevin Keegan and his contract runs out next summer.
Kevin has already identified Steve, Michael Owen and Steven Taylor as the three players he wants the club to offer new contacts to quickly.
Harper has been phenomenal in goal for Newcastle this year, and it will no longer be an automatic choice for Shay Given in goal at Newcastle from now on.
Steve has shown what he can do with an extended run in the side, and we think Shay will have to be at the very top of his form to win his place back next season.
Comments welcome.
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48 responses so far ↓
1 HeronMag // May 9, 2008 at 15:46
If any Newcastle player deserves a new contract it’s this lad.
Most other players would have moved on but Harper has stuck with us, despite never getting the chance he’s earned.
Some may call it a lack of ambition. I call it loyalty. Not something we see too much of these days.
2 ELFER // May 9, 2008 at 15:49
Absolutely yes and he deserves a new contract becouse steve done a good job also in behind the scences! quiet, loyal, passionate! But there’s absolutely no way to replace GIVEN!
3 Paul R // May 9, 2008 at 15:55
THERE IS ONLY ONE SHAY GIVEN !! But Steve Harper is the best back up keeper there is !! He deserves a new improved deal !!
4 Slam Dunc // May 9, 2008 at 15:56
Has Shay Given ever recovered from that Marlon Harewood challenge.
Harper should never have been dropped earlier in the season.
It’s the end of the line for Shay as first choice, will be interesting to see if he’s happy sitting on the bench
5 ELFER // May 9, 2008 at 15:58
no way, as soon as SHAYs fit he will be back in our goal!
6 Eric // May 9, 2008 at 15:59
Give Steve a new deal now. Great backup, great loyalty. The man is a real diamond.
7 Tom_Toon // May 9, 2008 at 16:00
Better than Given.
But Krul should be no. 1 next season.
8 oggy14 // May 9, 2008 at 16:00
if newcastle have one fewer yellow card than manchester city tommorow then we are in europe next season.
9 Leo // May 9, 2008 at 16:05
steven harper is a model professional and probably as good as given, lets not start this arguement though, they are both great
10 CRAIGG // May 9, 2008 at 16:09
I love the way everyone says about Harper being loyal to Newcastle and not moaning about being on the bench
He has handed in two transfer requests one to Sir Bobby and one to Glenn Roeder and the reason he hasnt jumped ship is because the only clubs who have wanted to sign him on a permanent transfer have been Huddersfield and Southampton a few years ago.
While he has been on the bench he gets paid a special ammount of money to compensate for this, He also used to spout off a fair bit about not playing (Read Bobbys Autobiography)
He is the second best goalkeeper at newcastle and has been since he signed, Pavel was better, Shaka was better still and Shay is a world away and when he is back to his awesome best again after his injury next season we will once again be saying “Steve who?”
As much as i like and rate Harper and I do, It is a myth about his loyalty as he would have jumped ship years back if anyone decent had wanted him.
11 beattie // May 9, 2008 at 16:10
given shouldnt be allowed to walk back into the team ahead of harper with out proving that he’s still worthy of the no.1
12 The real big AL // May 9, 2008 at 16:12
This is one part of the team that will hopefully not need to be looked at for a number of years Harper, Given, Forster, Krul and Soderberg. 2 fantastic experienced keepers and 3 excellent young propsects Lets hope we can keep them all happy
13 CRAIGG // May 9, 2008 at 16:15
Tom_Toon on what basis should Krul be no1 next season 1 match against Palermo and a few in the pathetic SPL
14 THELONGSHANKS // May 9, 2008 at 16:16
Given is top class and harper better commanding keeper glad to have both of them.Im headin ova to newcastle tonight for the weeknd,hopefully get to watch match 2moro if live in shearer’s bar but cant wait to go there and be around toon fans cuz we a dying breed here in ireland.Love the place,toon army!
15 Davies // May 9, 2008 at 16:18
Tom Toon. Isn’t Krul still badly injured?
He’s just a nipper too. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
16 Petworth Mag // May 9, 2008 at 16:18
Isn’t Krul still injured and quite a ways from playing?
17 Nev // May 9, 2008 at 16:21
steve should be no.1 at the begining of next season , no doubt about it
hes been great this season and it should be shay who has to sit on the bench , shay cant automaticaly be no.1 from his form 2 seasons ago
18 THELONGSHANKS // May 9, 2008 at 16:24
Harper deserves to keep his place but you cant write of given.Arsenal and man utd would snap off our hands if he went up for sale.If he played for any of the top 4 he would be worldclass,the curse of playing for the smaller clubs.
19 Nev // May 9, 2008 at 16:24
THELONGSHANKS- games on sunday mate lol
and imo i rekon fraser forster shold be given a start tomorow.
should be given a chance and he is apparetly “most improved” player this season
he certainly looks the part from his size lol
20 broon ale // May 9, 2008 at 16:24
To borrow Brian Hanrahan’s famous Falkands phrase, today’s meeting between Mike Ashley, Kevin Keegan and Dennis Wise ended without any P45s being issued.
In what was in a reality a board meeting, Chairman Chris Mort, his recently-appointed deputy Derek Llambias and Executive Director Tony Jiminez were also present.
Mort commented afterwards:
“It was a good meeting: it was both productive and constructive.”
there you go all you liitle southern journo’s! you can stop wrinting all your garbage about bust up’s etc (from nufc.com. aprt from the last sentence which is mine)
21 The real big AL // May 9, 2008 at 16:27
Nev,
‘THELONGSHANKS- games on sunday mate lol
and imo i rekon fraser forster shold be given a start tomorow.’
if the games on sunday who is forster meant to be playing for tomorrow!?! lol
22 CRAIGG // May 9, 2008 at 16:35
Thank god my guts have been churning all day waiting for a good ending to this meeting, Did anyone see that moron from the mirror on Sky sports last night saying that Mike Ashley was going to give KK a £3m pay off
Why dont the club sue these scum for every penny for writing hurtful and innaccurate drivel
23 Frankieboy // May 9, 2008 at 16:37
Will be a disgrace if Harper is not given a new contract.
Only right he should start next season as No.1.If he continues to play well he keeps his place.
Fair shout I think.
24 Geordie Gerrard7 // May 9, 2008 at 16:40
does anyone have a source to the meeting outcome?
25 The real big AL // May 9, 2008 at 16:41
CRAIGG,
I agree. these idiots in the press seem to have nothing better to do than to stir up rubbish about our club. and the reason is because they know any story about newcastle united sells papers. if i made as many misguided judgements in my job as these journos do i’d have been sacked a long time ago!
I never doubted this keegan ashley meeting. ashley is a happy man at the mo and they were just planning for the exciting summer ahead! bring on 08-09!!!
26 Danish_Magpie // May 9, 2008 at 17:07
Tom_Toon: No way should Krul be our number 1 next season.. that makes no sense. Given and Harper are both top keepers, and throwing in a laregly untested youngsters would probably hinder his progress more than it would benefit it. I say loan him out to a good championship side and let him get good experience there, and let Shay and Steve battle it out on even terms. Both are great players and loyal servants to our club.
27 Whumpie // May 9, 2008 at 17:38
I think Harper’s been exceptional all season - not just since Kev turned up. He can’t quite pull off the reaction saves that Given can, but his distribution is generally more reliable.
Let’s face it - we’re spoiled rotten for keepers.
28 Obafan // May 9, 2008 at 17:40
Is there anywhere some article of comment that gives us an idea how the meeting has gone???
29 JC // May 9, 2008 at 17:50
More to the point Obafan how much ashley agree to put forward this summer for transfers!!
30 Fernando // May 9, 2008 at 18:08
anyone can tell me what a typical week of training at a football club is like? I intend to copy it for my training regime. I imagine it’d be something like a school time table with lunch on it too and how long the lunch break is before afternoon training? anyone can help please. Thank you
31 Tom_Toon // May 9, 2008 at 18:26
i thought they just trained in the morning and got the rest of the day off.
32 emantoon // May 9, 2008 at 18:29
new contract..great.
a reliable back up keeper.
33 Nev // May 9, 2008 at 18:33
my mates cousin neil sorvel plays for morcambe n used to play fo crewe, n when i akse him what it was like he said it was 10-2ish trainig and after that it was up to the players … e.g go the gym or go home
34 Geordie Gerrard7 // May 9, 2008 at 18:37
i was at exeter city for 2 seasons previous to this one, we started to train at half ten at the cat and fiddle, finnish at 1.30, have dinner, then spend time swimming or gym, or specialist training, or if you are slack like most people were, you go home.
35 toonoholic // May 9, 2008 at 18:52
if barton did not go home , he would avoid all kind of trouble , including domestic violence
36 James // May 9, 2008 at 18:52
I think we should Harper a statue - his loyalty to our club is a rarity in the modern game - everytime he gets his chance he never lets us down - outstanding professional
37 Bill F // May 9, 2008 at 19:14
I think I will pass on making comments on GK’s this time around other than it might be a good thing to give Fraser a game along with some of the other youngsters. League position wise this game means nothing to us now apart from the fact that we do not want to finish below the Mackems although it would be good to finish with a win.
38 Black and White Blood // May 9, 2008 at 19:41
On form alone this season Harper is my No 1…..
39 AltaBatalJoneN // May 9, 2008 at 21:21
Cash in on Given, and play Harper with Krul as backup!!!
40 rlw // May 10, 2008 at 10:44
harps for me always has been just needed a chance to shine he has saved us this season
41 CRAIGG // May 10, 2008 at 10:46
One thing about this as well as Harper has done, Is it only me who knows that we would have won west ham if (A fit) shay had played as Nobles shot would never have beaten shay and harper should have reacted much better to it IMO
42 rlw // May 10, 2008 at 10:49
craigg could he have done relly harps is consistant and is better given make a brill save now and then and just for 1 good save you think he is god and btw why are you on this site talking when you could be doing something useful
43 Ashton // May 10, 2008 at 10:59
He is better than Given
44 CRAIGG // May 10, 2008 at 11:23
1 Good save have you really forgot the past 11 years of brilliance, Single handedly keeping us in games, He has been worth above 20 points a season and is a better keeper.
You try and make a valid point and a tosser like you makes a stupid pointless statement like that one about doing something useful.
By the way can you write in proper english please because that really would be useful:
“craigg could he have done relly harps is consistant and is better given make”
What the hell does that mean???
45 Macca // May 10, 2008 at 11:51
Talking to a mate of mine who would be close to the team and I was saying how loyal both keepers have been and he turned around, and said. Loyal?? Harper wants to leave. I almost fell off my stool. Out of all the things I was expecting him to say it wasn’t that.
Now it mightn’t be true, but he usually right with this kind of information.
But like there’s a long summer ahead so we’ll have to wait and see what happens.
As for Given he’s been looking really good in training, really sharp, he’s looking forward to going off with the Irish squad and he’s showing good signs of being injury free. Apparently, he looks, what was the word my mate used, oh ya, happier.
Both are outstanding keepers but when both are at their best Given is a class ahead. He like Harper has been extremely loyal, and he could have actually left 10 times over and he would have been snapped up like that, Harper never had any offers or signs of interest from other clubs. It wouldn’t have been so easy to leave. So when I hear people talking about him being the pro role model and how we should make a statue in his honor it really pisses me off and when they say that Given can only make one or two brilliant saves but Harps is consistent it just proves how short peoples memories are, Given has been one of the most consistent, not to mention outstanding and loyal keepers in the league for the past 1o or 11 years and has singlehandedly saved us over and over again It’s amazing how quickly people are willing to forget and downgrade that.
And now apparently after one season of success from Harper who turned a head or two, apparently, if my source is right, wants to leave for bigger better things, not so loyal anymore.
46 Shanghaitoon // May 10, 2008 at 11:53
Harper’s good but I too would like to see Tim Krul given an opportunity!!
47 Macca // May 10, 2008 at 12:09
All this excitement about wanting to see Krul or Foster play. How many times have we actually seen them play like, lets get realistic.
48 rlw // May 25, 2008 at 16:39
come on harps
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