Lee Charles Philip Harper (born 30 October 1971) is an English former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

, and manager who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. After beginning his career with Eltham Town he went on to play in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the c ...

and

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club, usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football leag ...

. He finished his career as a

player-manager A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

at Conference National side

Kettering Town Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Latimer Park. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in 1976, and have ...

Playing career

Born in

Chelsea, London Chelsea is an area in West London, England, due south-west of Kilometre zero#Great Britain, Charing Cross by approximately . It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the SW postcode area, south-western p ...

, Harper started his career at

non-League Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

club Eltham Town, signing for

Sittingbourne Sittingbourne is an industrial town in the Swale district of Kent, southeast England, from Canterbury and from London, beside the Roman Watling Street, an ancient trackway used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons. The town stands next to th ...

after featuring against them, before being signed by

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in June 1994. He cost Arsenal £150,000 – one of the biggest fees paid for a non-league player at the time. He was third-choice goalkeeper at the club, behind

Vince Bartram Vincent Lee Bartram (born 7 August 1968) is an English football coach and former professional footballer. He is currently the 1st team Goalkeeper Coach at National League side Eastleigh FC. He is also a Casual Goalkeeper scout for the City Footb ...

and

David Seaman David Andrew Seaman (born 19 September 1963) is an English former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. In a career lasting from 1981 to 2004, he is best known for his time playing for Arsenal. He won 75 caps for England, and is the country ...

, and only made one

first team First team may refer to: Sports * First team (association football), the colloquial name given to the most senior team fielded by a football club * The First Team, the first players known to have played the sport of basketball * First Team All-A ...

appearance for the Highbury side, in a 2–0

FA Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football ...

win over

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

on 15 March 1997. In the summer of 1997 he moved to

(QPR), and in four seasons made 118 league appearances. He moved to

in 2001 after QPR were relegated to the Second Division, but made only three appearances in his single season there. He moved to

in 2002 and became first-choice goalkeeper there, recording over 150 league appearances. He moved to League Two team

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

in October 2006, where he helped to repair the team's poor defending record, with a significant reduction in goals conceded. This successful loan spell resulted in Harper signing a permanent deal in January 2007. He was released at the end of the 2006–07 season in May. He signed for

Conference North The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 o ...

team

in August 2007. He made 40 appearances in all competitions in the 2007–08 season as Kettering won the Conference North title. He made 54 appearances in all competitions in the 2008–09 season and he signed a new contract with the club in July 2009.

Managerial career

He was appointed as

of Kettering Town on 16 November 2009 on a contract until the end of the 2009–10 season following the departure of Mark Cooper. On 8 December 2009 Harper was given the Man of the Match award by ITV commentator

Andy Townsend Andrew David Townsend (born 23 July 1963) is a former professional footballer and sports co-commentator for Premier League Productions and CBS Sports. As a player he was a midfielder who notably played in the Premier League for Chelsea, Ast ...

for his performance in Kettering Town's 5–1 defeat to

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

Elland Road Elland Road, or Elland Road Stadium, is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the Home (sports), home of Leeds United F.C., Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the List of foot ...

in the second round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

. His assistant

John Deehan John Matthew Deehan (born 6 August 1957) is an English former football manager and player. During his playing career he was a footballer from 1975 until 1990 and is most well known for his spells as a striker for Aston Villa and Norwich City. H ...

was sacked after the final whistle and Harper said in the press conference after the game he was considering his own future due to Deehan's sacking. Due to a long-term back problem he was ruled out of action until he had treatment, which resulted in him signing goalkeeper Nathan Abbey in January 2010. He said he was unsure over his future at the club in April 2010 before being appointed full-time manager on 17 May, with Tommy Jaszczun returning to the club as his assistant manager. He left the club by mutual consent on 20 September 2010 after Kettering had won one game in nine up to that point in the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

season.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Individual *

PFA Fans' Player of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Fans' Player of the Year (often called the PFA Fans' Player of the Year, or simply the Fans' Player of the Year) award is given to footballers in the top four flights of English football, the Premier L ...

: 2003–04 Third Division

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harper, Lee 1971 births Living people Footballers from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea People from Chelsea, London English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Sittingbourne F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Milton Keynes Dons F.C. players Kettering Town F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players English football managers Kettering Town F.C. managers