Steve Harper’s Missed Opportunity

You?ve got to feel for Steve Harper. A very good goalkeeper and a great backup to the almost irreplaceable Shay Given, he has the dirty job of hoping that the latter gets a serious injury so that he can get a run in the team and maybe, just maybe, he can claim the No.1 keeper?s jersey. The trouble is for Harper, who started only his 3rd Premiership game in 5 and a half years last Wednesday, is that he cannot stop making mistakes when he does come in for a (rarely) injured Given.

I seem to remember a mistake he made against Villa a couple of years back and in the 2004/5 season his unfortunate kick rebounded to Jermaine Defoe who slotted in from close range, resulting in a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Spurs. Harper said himself that he was ?absolutely devastated? after that mistake and now he has to deal with this – although we never looked like winning against Liverpool at Anfield, I?m sure Harpers confidence could have done without the knock that comes from conceding a goal from all of 70 yards out which finished the game off at 2-0.

?Shay has been outstanding but I’ve never resigned myself to the fact I am No 2. I work my socks off and then I’m like a bear with a sore head when the teamsheet is put up because I want to play.

“Whenever I’ve gone in I’ve wanted to do the business and stay in. It’s hard coming in for the odd game but I have to hit the ground running. I’ve waited a long time for an opportunity like this? said Harper before Wednesdays match. Let?s hope that while Given his recovering from an injury usually sustained after being hit by a car he can bounce back and find again the form that kept Shay out of the team, albeit for a short while, in the late 90?s.

As Harpers confidence hit the floor so did any hopes toon fans held of actually making a decent start to the season for once. The only thing that keeps me slightly optimistic is when I remember last year, and Graeme Souness especially. Same 2-0 defeat at Anfield as last year, but the performance was greatly improved and I trust Roeder with the team.

Having escaped almost completely unscathed from what turned out to be an over-hyped Panorama programme (Kevin Bond, now the Assistant at the Toon, was slightly implicated) I guess you could breathe a sigh of relief that at least off the field we are not in trouble. However the problem is that although ?Big Sam? has been pretty well caught out, I expected more, and rather than believe the lack of evidence was due to a lack of wrongdoing I instead think the Panorama team either failed journalistically or have had their programme massacred at the hands of lawyers and editors.

I will wait until Lord Stevens gives his verdict ? and even then, cynical though it might be, if he doesn?t come up with anything after working for six months and going through more than 350 transfers made by Premier League clubs I will feel he has not done his job as I am convinced there is corruption on large scale in football, not just in Italy – and it needs to be sorted out.