Joseph Montgomery Harper (born 11 January 1948) is a
ScottishScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
former footballer, mainly remembered for his two spells with
AberdeenAberdeen Football Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Aberdeen...
, during which he became the club's record goalscorer.
Club career
Harper started his professional career with home-town club
MortonGreenock Morton Football Club are a Scottish professional football club, who currently play in the Scottish Football League First Division. The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs....
, and returned to the club after a brief, unhappy spell with
Huddersfield TownHuddersfield Town Football Club is an English football club formed in 1908 and based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. They currently play in League One...
. He had at times a difficult relationship with some Morton supporters, but most fans recognised his ability and enthusiasm.
In 1969, Aberdeen manager
Eddie TurnbullEdward Hunter Turnbull was a Scottish professional football player and manager.During the late 1940s and 1950s he was one of the Famous Five, the noted Hibernian forward line, along with Gordon Smith, Bobby Johnstone, Lawrie Reilly, and Willie Ormond...
paid £40,000 to sign Harper for Aberdeen and in his first season with the
Dons he helped them win the
Scottish CupThe Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,, commonly known as the Scottish Cup or the William Hill Scottish Cup for sponsorship purposes, is the main national cup competition in Scottish football. It is a knockout cup competition run by and named after the Scottish Football Association.The...
for the second time in their history. Harper opened the scoring from the penalty spot as overwhelming pre-match favourites
CelticCeltic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Premier League. The club was established in 1887, and played its first game in 1888. Celtic have won the Scottish League Championship on 42 occasions, most recently in the...
were defeated 3–1. He rapidly developed a reputation as a prodigious goalscorer and following a record-breaking haul of 33 goals in 34 league games in the
1971–72 seasonThe 1971–72 season was the 75th season of Scottish league football.-Scottish League Division One:Champions: Celtic Relegated: Clyde, Dunfermline-Scottish League Division Two:Promoted: Dumbarton, Arbroath-Cup honours:...
was the subject of much interest from English scouts.
EvertonEverton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...
paid £180,000 for his services in December 1972 but his time in English football was not as productive as his Pittodrie spell and he returned to Scotland with
HibernianHibernian Football Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Leith, in the north of Edinburgh. They are one of two Scottish Premier League clubs in the city, the other being their Edinburgh derby rivals, Hearts...
in early 1974, for the second time signed by Eddie Turnbull who had by this stage moved to
Easter RoadEaster Road is a football stadium located in the Leith area of Edinburgh, Scotland, which is the home ground of Scottish Premier League club Hibernian . The stadium currently has an all-seated capacity of 20,421, which makes it the fifth-largest football stadium in Scotland. Easter Road is also...
. Overweight and unfit when he arrived at Hibs, Harper struggled to rediscover his Aberdeen-era form in
EdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, though he did score a hat-trick in the
1975–76The 1975–76 season was the 79th season of Scottish league football. It was the first season in the new, three-tier setup. Division One was no longer the top division in Scottish football, although all three divisions are still part of the Scottish Football League.The Premier Division...
League CupThe Scottish League Cup is a football competition open to all Scottish Football League and Scottish Premier League clubs. At present it is also known as the Scottish Communities League Cup owing to the sponsorship deal in place with the Scottish Government. In the past it has been sponsored by...
final. However John "Dixie" Deans also scored a hat-trick that day, and Celtic defeated Hibs 6–3. Harper was never a favourite with the Hibs fans, and his arrival signalled the beginning of the decline of the team's fortunes through the late 1970s and 1980s.
Harper returned to Aberdeen under
Ally MacLeodAlistair Reid MacLeod was a Scottish professional football player. He is perhaps better known for his time as a football manager, which included being in charge of Scotland at the 1978 FIFA World Cup....
for the start of the
1976–77 seasonSeason 1976–1977 was the 80th season of Scottish league football.After the failure of the Spring Cup and the 26 game season in the 1st & 2nd Divisions, a 39 game season was instituted in these divisions with a slight imbalance in the amount of home and away games played by each team; however,...
in a £50,000 deal and inspired instant success, the
Dons defeating Celtic 2–1 (after extra time) to win the League Cup in November. Harper made further final appearances in each of the next two seasons, as Aberdeen lost both the
1977–78The 1977–78 season was the 81st season of competitive football in Scotland.-Scottish Premier Division:Champions: RangersRelegated: Ayr United, Clydebank-Scottish League Division One:Promoted: Morton, Hearts...
Scottish Cup final and the
1978–79The 1978-1979 season was the 82nd season of competitive football in Scotland.-Scottish Premier Division:Champions: Celtic Relegated: Hearts, Motherwell-Scottish League Division One:Promoted: Dundee, Kilmarnock...
League Cup final to
RangersRangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...
, by a scoreline of 2–1 on each occasion. By the
1979–80 seasonThe 1979–80 season was the 83rd season of competitive football in Scotland.-Scottish Premier Division:Champions: AberdeenRelegated: Dundee, Hibernian-Scottish League Division One:Promoted: Hearts, Airdrieonians...
he was considered a veteran and no longer a regular in the
Dons first team but his seven goals helped Aberdeen to their first league title since
1954–55The 1954–55 season was the 58th season of competitive football in Scotland.Aberdeen won their first League Title.-Scottish League Division A:Champions: Aberdeen...
. He left Pittodrie after only one appearance the following season.
In total Harper scored 199 (since amended to 205 goals) competitive goals for Aberdeen, a club record. Of that total, 122 were scored in league fixtures, 70 in domestic cup games (including the
Drybrough CupThe Drybrough Cup was a Scottish annual football tournament. It was held from 1971 until 1974, and was revived from 1979 to 1980. It was open to the four highest-scoring teams from Division 1, and the four highest-scoring teams from Division 2. The format allowed the tournament to have three...
) and 7 in European competition. His iconic status amongst Aberdeen supporters was recognised when he was amongst the first players to be inducted to the club's "Hall of Fame". Joe's notoriety with Aberdeen fans also earned him the title 'King of the Beach End'(traditional home end at Pittodrie).
International career
Harper first played for
ScotlandThe Scotland national football team represents Scotland in international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. Scotland are the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside England, whom they played in the world's first international football match in 1872...
against
DenmarkThe Denmark national football team represents Denmark in association football and is controlled by the Danish Football Association , the governing body for the football clubs which are organized under DBU...
in October 1972, scoring on his debut in a 4–1 win. He played in Scotland's next game but then fell out of the international reckoning, only earning a recall in 1975. By coincidence, the occasion was another away match with Denmark but this was overshadowed by a controversial off-field incident as Harper and several team-mates were involved in a disturbance at a
CopenhagenCopenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
night club , leading the
Scottish Football AssociationThe Scottish Football Association is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. Members of the SFA include clubs in Scotland, affiliated national associations as well as local associations...
to issue him with a life ban from the national team. The ban was later lifted, and he was selected in the Scotland
World CupThe FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
squad in 1978, appearing against
IranThe national football team of Iran represents Iran in international football competitions and is controlled by the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran...
as Scotland exited in the first round.
Later life
In 1981 Harper was appointed manager of then
Highland LeagueThe Press & Journal Highland Football League is a league of football clubs operating not just in the Scottish Highlands, as the name may suggest, but also in the north-east lowlands...
side
PeterheadPeterhead F.C. are a football club based in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. They currently play in the Scottish Football League Third Division, following promotion in the 2004–05 season.Their home ground is Balmoor in Peterhead, with a capacity of 4,000...
. He helped the
Blue Toon to a second place league finish but his reported wages were beyond the club's means and he was replaced for the 1982–83 season by former Pittodrie team-mate Dave Smith.
Harper can be heard on Aberdeen's
Original 106Original 106fm is an independent radio station broadcasting to Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire. It was awarded its broadcast licence in January 2007 and the station launched on October 28, 2007 at 1:06 pm. The first record played was "Revolution" by The Beatles...
radio station as part of their sports team, providing coverage and analysis on Dons games, football in general and other sporting matters.
Harper has also been a columnist for the Aberdeen Evening Express for the last 10 years. His hard hitting column appears every Wednesday.
In 2008, Harper was preparing his autobiography, which was being written along with
Evening ExpressThe Evening Express is a daily local newspaper serving the city of Aberdeen in Scotland. It was first published in November 1879.It was a tabloid during the 1930s to the 1950s until it resumed a broadsheet in November 1958, six days a week. By September 1989, The Saturday edition returned to a...
sports editor
Charlie AllanCharlie Allan is the sports editor of the Aberdeen Evening Express and main sports writer for the newspaper.Allan has worked for the Evening Express since 1990 and was named British Telecom Scottish Sports Writer of the year in 1999. He reported on the 1998 World Cup finals and 1992 and 1996...
. In 2009 Harper was appointed honourary Club President of Aberdeenshire Amateur League side Halliburton AFC. Joe can be found on home match days for Aberdeen in the Legends Lounge of the Richard Donald stand – he is the host of this hospitality lounge.
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