21 Facts About Kevin Harper

Kevin Patrick Harper was born on 15 January 1976 and is a football coach and former player.

Kevin Harper played as a winger for Hibernian, Derby County, Walsall, Portsmouth, Norwich City, Leicester City, Stoke City, Carlisle United and Dunfermline Athletic.

Kevin Harper played for youth club Hutchison Vale in Edinburgh before he was signed by Hibernian and made his professional debut aged just 17.

Kevin Harper was unhappy that having claimed Gary Mackay had racially abused him during an Edinburgh derby game in November 1996, the SFA did not take action in response to his complaint.

Kevin Harper scored two goals for Derby; one against Liverpool in the league and one against Swansea City in the FA Cup.

Kevin Harper was loaned out to Walsall in December 1999 for the remainder of the season.

Kevin Harper moved to Fratton Park having started only seven games for Derby.

Kevin Harper's loan spell at Carrow Road was initially for one month but was extended to three months.

Kevin Harper played well at Norwich, but was sent off for a two-footed tackle on Luciano Zavagno in a match against Derby County.

Kevin Harper was loaned to Carlisle United in October 2006 and then Walsall, whom he had played for on loan earlier in his career.

Kevin Harper was released by Stoke manager Tony Pulis in May 2007.

On 7 July 2007, Kevin Harper opted to join Dunfermline Athletic, of the Scottish First Division.

Kevin Harper scored the winning goal against Stirling Albion on 25 August 2007 and played in Dunfermline's UEFA Cup matches at home 16 August and away 30 August against BK Hacken FC of Sweden.

Kevin Harper's season was rather inconsistent, though on 25 March 2008 he scored a hat-trick in a re-arranged fixture against First Division strugglers Stirling Albion.

Kevin Harper has set up his own football academy based in Stepps.

In November 2015, Thorniewood United manager and former Hibernian team-mate Andy Frame, persuaded Kevin Harper to come out of retirement and join the club in a player-coach role.

Kevin Harper became the first black, Asian or minority ethnic manager of a Scottish club since Marcio Maximo in 2003.

Albion again avoided relegation by finishing ninth in that season, but Kevin Harper decided to leave the club at the end of his contract in May 2020.

Kevin Harper later revealed that, despite having avoided relegation again with a very poor 9th-place finish, he had been offered reduced terms, in line with a greatly reduced club budget due to prevailing circumstances, to stay and believed the board could match the ambition he had for the club.

In June 2020, Kevin Harper appeared in a special podcast panel discussing his experiences of racism in football with A View from the Terrace host Craig Fowler.

On 4 June 2023 Kevin Harper join Thorniewood United as player-coach.