Newcastle United Football Club News

• Nickname:Magpies
• Founded:1881
• Manager:Alan Pardew

• Ground:St James' Park
• Capacity:52,193

Hughton to keep faith with Harper

16 Jul 2010 - 08:37:45

Click To Enlarge

Newcastle United manager Chris Hughton has ruled out the possibility of allowing Steve Harper to join Celtic before the transfer window closes at the end of next month.

Harper was Shay Given's understudy at St James' Park for a lengthy spell before playing a key part in the club's promotion-winning campaign last term,

Hughton has Tim Krul and Fraser Forster as back-up keepers but has every intention of starting with the consistent Harper in goal.

He told the Chronicle: "Steve's a very experienced goalkeeper who's been around a long time and he goes into the new season on the back of a very good campaign.

"At a time when we're looking at what we have and what is coming in, we still want to call on as much experience as we can.

"He's a quality goalkeeper and he played the whole season for us last year. He remains a very big player for us.

"We've got no problems with keepers and we have a nice blend of youth and experience. Steve has got the experience and Fraser and Tim are two young keepers. For them to be able to be around Steve is good for them."