Joe Harper

Joseph Montgomery Harper (born 11 January 1948) is a Scottish former footballer, mainly remembered for his two spells with Aberdeen, during which he won the three main domestic trophies once each and became the club's record goalscorer with 199 goals in major competitions. He also played for Morton (two spells) and Hibernian in Scotland, and for Huddersfield Town and Everton in England. He finished his career in the Highland League.

Harper played for the Scotland national team five times, scoring seven goals. Harper scored 74 goals in 122 appearances for Morton across both spells. Morton sold him for £35,000 to Huddersfield Town. He later returned to Morton for £15,000.

In 1969, Aberdeen manager Eddie Turnbull paid £40,000 to sign Harper, and in his first season with the Dons he helped them win the Scottish Cup for the second time in their history; Harper opened the scoring from the penalty spot as overwhelming pre-match favourites Celtic 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 season was the subject of much interest from English scouts.

Everton paid £180,000 for his services in December 1972 but his time in English football was not as productive as his Aberdeen spell and he returned to Scotland with Hibernian in early 1974, for the second time signed by Eddie Turnbull who had by this stage moved to Easter Road. Overweight and unfit when he arrived at Hibs, Harper struggled to rediscover his Aberdeen-era form in Edinburgh. He scored a hat-trick in the 1974 Scottish League Cup Final, but Dixie Deans also scored a hat-trick as Celtic defeated Hibs 6–3. Harper was never a favourite with the Hibs fans, Harper left Pittodrie after only one appearance the following season in the wake of a fallout with Ferguson. against a Canada Olympic team; in October 2021 the Scottish Football Association decided to reclassify this game as a full international. Depending on sourcing, this either retroactively set a new Scottish international record of goals in a match, or equalled Hughie Gallacher's 1929 feat (there being an element of uncertainty of whether Gallacher scored four or five times).

He next played for Scotland in October 1972, scoring in a 4–1 win against Denmark, and also took part in the following fixture but then fell out of the international reckoning, only earning a recall in 1975. By coincidence, that occasion was another away match with Denmark, but this was overshadowed by a controversial off-field incident; Harper and several teammates were given lifetime bans by the SFA after it was alleged that they had been involved in a nightclub incident where a light was broken and an altercation followed. Harper later said that he had been punished because he had returned to the team base in the same taxi as the other players. Harper later managed Huntly from June 1988 after a successful spell at junior club Rosslyn Sport (which was also the name of a sports shop in Aberdeen, the club later merged with Muggiemoss to form Dyce Juniors F.C.) which he joined the year before. He was then succeeded at Huntly by Steve Paterson in October 1990., He then soon became co-manager at Deveronvale with existing manager Billy Anderson until November 1992.

Harper has also been a columnist for the Aberdeen Evening Express. An autobiography, which was co-written by Evening Express sports editor Charlie Allan, was published in 2008.

Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals

1964–65

3 1 3+ 1+ 1965–66 12 6 12+ 6+ 1966–67 Scottish Division Two 30 29 30+ 29+

45 36 45+ 36+

1967–68 Second Division 21 3 0 0 1 0 0 0 22 3

21 3 0 0 1 0 0 0 22 3

1968–69

34 25 34+ 25+ 1969–70 6 4 6+ 4+

40 29 40+ 29+

1969–70

24 6 5 3 0 0 0 0 29 9 1970–71 31 19 4 2 5 5 2 1 42 27 1971–72 34 33 3 2 6 4 4 3 47 42 1972–73 13 11 0 0 11 15 2 1 26 27

102 69 12 7 22 24 8 5 144 105

1972–73

20 7 2 1 0 0 0 0 22 8 1973–74 23 5 2 1 2 0 0 0 27 6

43 12 4 2 2 0 0 0 49 14

1973–74

13 9 1 0 0 0 0 0 14 9 1974–75 34 11 1 0 10 9 4 2 49 22 1975–76 Scottish Premier Division 22 5 2 2 8 7 2 1 34 15

69 25 4 2 18 16 6 3 97 46

1976–77

34 18 3 1 11 9 0 0 48 28 1977–78 31 17 4 4 6 6 2 0 43 27 1978–79 28 18 5 3 7 9 4 2 44 32 1979–80 11 3 0 0 7 3 2 1 20 7 1980–81 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0

105 56 12 8 31 27 8 3 156 94 Peterhead 1981–82

1982–83 1983–84

425 230 32+ 19+ 74+ 67+ 22 11 553+ 327+

International + Appearances and goals by national team and year National team!!Year!!Apps!!Goals

1967

Aberdeen Scottish Premier Division: 1979–80 Scottish Cup: 1969–70 Aberdeenshire Cup: 1980–81

Individual European Bronze Boot: 1971–72