You’ve got to feel sorry for Steve Harper haven’t you? I mean, fair enough, he is a well-paid professional footballer who has spent a lot of his time sitting around on benches - of the substitute variety not park benches, with a bottle of cider in his hand - but there are not many nicer guys in the game than Steve.
You could criticise him for a lack of ambition I suppose. After all, this is a goalkeeper who has the ability to be a first-choice at a Premiership club and who might have played for England if he was.
But. there were people who never understood why Matt Le Tissier refused to leave Southampton in the nineties, but it wasn’t really a decision they had to make, or he wanted them to understand. Some people like staying where they are, they like the life they lead and that’s it, end of story, stop going on about it.
So when Shay Given finally suffered a serious injury - sorry that sounds awful doesn’t it, but see it from Steve’s point of view - everyone was delighted to see Harps being rewarded for his loyalty with an extended run in the side.
He’s a more than capable understudy to the Irishman and the poor lad’s backside must have been aching after so long sat around watching from the dugout.
There’s another reason why I like Steve. He once told me in a Champions League mixed zone that he had been talking to a girl he knew that fancied me and wanted my phone number. I thought that was a very nice gesture to pass that information on , although sadly, after a couple of dates, the relationship didn’t work out.
The point, however, is, the last thing dear, loyal, patient Steve needs now that he has got a run in the team is an injury. So inevitably that is precisely what happens, a thigh strain from kicking a ball.
Which got me thinking about a friend of mine who thinks St James’s Park is cursed, honestly he does, and he’s not a nutter. He’s a very sensible guy with a very good job, a girlfriend and good prospects. He’s a Newcastle season ticket holder, which obviously makes him a glutton for punishment, but other than that, he’s fine.
He might have a point, particularly if you think about injuries. Albert Luque rips his hamstring in two on his debut and never recovers, Kieron Dyer’s hamstring have had to be rebuilt because he has had so many strains, while Emre suffered the first hamstring injury of his career as a Newcastle player.
What about Alan Shearer? He was hardly blessed with good luck on the injury front was he? Then there is Jonathan Woodgate - he has hardly played since he signed for Newcastle - and the less said about Michael Owen’s 11 appearances since a £17m move from Real Madrid the better.
I wonder if anyone at Newcastle has thought of hiring an exorcist to rid the club of bad spirits? Perhaps a witch doctor could be brought over.
And no, before you ask, I don’t think either of the above can be used to banish unpopular chairman!
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