James Alan John Harper (born 9 November 1980) is an English

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 le ...

who plays for Ascot United.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of London a ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, Harper attended the Anglo European School in Ingatestone, Essex. He started his career as a trainee with

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 ...

, but as his first team opportunities were limited, he first went on loan to Cardiff City, before signing permanently for Reading for an undisclosed fee said to be "a substantial six-figure fee" at the end of February 2001.

Reading

James had a real impact at Reading including playing a key role in a number of promotions and single handled defeat of Liverpool in Reading's only ever win over one of the premier leagues big four. After helping Reading to win the 2005–06

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

, and thus win promotion to the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

, he scored his first Premiership goals for Reading in a clash with

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

St James' Park St James' Park is a football stadium in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is the home of Premier League club Newcastle United F.C. With a seating capacity of 52,305 seats, it is the eighth largest football stadium in England. St James' Park ...

, scoring twice despite losing 3–2. At the start of July 2007, Harper signed an improved three–year contract to keep him at Reading until the end of the 2009–10 season.

Sheffield United

Harper joined

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

in September 2009, on loan until the end of the season. With his contract set to expire at the same time, Reading manager

Brendan Rodgers Brendan Rodgers (born 26 January 1973) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Premier League club Leicester City. Rodgers began his career as a defender at Ballymena United, where he stayed un ...

admitted it was likely that he had played his last game for Reading. Harper duly made his début for The Blades in an away victory at Derby County just under a fortnight later. After being a regular in the first team from that point his loan deal was made permanent during the January transfer window, with Harper signing until the end of the season. Harper was a regular starter for the remainder of the season notching up four goals in the process. At the end of the season however his contract was not extended further and he was released.

Hull City

Harper began a trial with

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

in early July 2010 following the arrival of

Nigel Pearson Nigel Graham Pearson (born 21 August 1963) is an English football manager and former professional player, currently the manager of Championship club Bristol City. During his playing career, he was a defender and played for Shrewsbury Town, Shef ...

as manager of the club. On 12 July 2010 it was announced that Harper had signed for Hull on a two-year contract. He made his league debut on 23 October in the home match against

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

when he came on, just after half time, to replace

Nolberto Solano Nolberto Albino "Ñol" Solano Todco (born 12 December 1974), commonly known as Nobby Solano, is a retired Peruvian professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is currently the assistant manager of the Peru national football team, as w ...

. Harper scored his first goal for Hull City, with a long range strike against former club Reading in a 1–1 draw at the

KC Stadium The MKM Stadium (also known as the Hull City Stadium due to UEFA sponsorship regulations) is a multi-purpose facility in the city of Kingston upon Hull, England. The stadium was previously called the KC Stadium, but was renamed the KCOM Stadi ...

on 28 December 2010. On 24 January he moved to

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...

on a month-long loan. In May 2012 it was announced that his contract at Hull would not be extended and he was released by the club. On 26 July Harper joined

Hungerford Town Hungerford Town Football Club is a semi-professional Football club (association football), football club based in Hungerford, Berkshire, England. Affiliated to the Berks & Bucks Football Association, they are currently members of and play at B ...

of the

Southern Football League The Southern League is a men's football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from the South and Midlands of England. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English fo ...

Division One South and West where close friend Bobby Wilkinson was Manager. Harper featured in friendlies against Mortimer and Wokingham & Emmbrook to help build match fitness as he planned a return to league football.

Doncaster Rovers

On 17 August 2012 Harper signed a one-year deal with

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

and made his debut as a second-half substitute in a 3 – 0 win over

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

the next day. He won a League 1 winners medal as Doncaster won promotion to the Championship. The following season Harper made no appearances for the club leading to him leaving by mutual consent in January 2014 in search of regular football.

Non-league

On 21 March 2014, Harper signed for

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

side

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

for the remainder of the season and made his debut in the 2–0 win over Hereford United at the Hive. After six appearances, it was announced that Harper was being released at the end of the season, although he was invited back for 2014-15 pre-season training at the Hive. On 24 October 2014 Harper signed for

Basingstoke Town Basingstoke Town Football Club is a football club based in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England. The club are currently members of the and play at the Winklebury Sports Complex. Their motto, 'Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum', means 'Never a step backward' ...

, making his debut for the club on 8 November in the FA Cup first round replay at Telford United. Following some solid displays, he soon became a regular 1st team choice, making 31 appearances as Town reached the

Conference South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

play-offs, narrowly missing out to

Whitehawk Whitehawk is a suburb in the east of Brighton, England, south of Bevendean and north of Brighton Marina. The area is a large, modern housing estate built in a downland dry valley historically known as Whitehawk Bottom. The estate was originally ...

at the Semi Final stage. The 2015/16 season was not so successful with the team performing poorly and sat with

in 22nd position Harper was released by manager Terry Brown following a one on one meeting. In March 2016, Harper signed for Hayes & Yeading United. On 11 October 2016, Harper signed for

. After making just one league appearance for The Crusaders, he joined

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

to make his debut in a

Surrey Senior Cup The Surrey Senior Cup is the senior Saturday cup competition of the Surrey FA. It is currently competed for by teams playing in the top nine levels of the English football league system who are affiliated to the Surrey FA. The competition was i ...

loss to

Kingstonian Kingstonian Football Club is an English semi-professional football club based in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London which currently plays in the Isthmian League Premier Division. The club was founded in 1885 by YMC ...

on 13 December 2016. On 3 February 2017,

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Great ...

announced his signature. On 16 March 2018, Harper joined Gosport Borough, making his début as a second-half substitute in a 2–5 defeat to

Redditch United Redditch United Football Club is an English football club based in Redditch, Worcestershire. The club participates in the and play their home games at the V Trico Stadium. They are managed by former Captain and Assistant Manager Matt Clarke. ...

the following day. Harper joined Walton Casuals for the 2018–19 season and scored on his debut against Shoreham in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

, as well as his league debut against

. He re-joined Gosport for the rest of the season in October. Harper briefly re-joined Hendon at the start of the 2019–20 season before joining

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxbrid ...

. On 16 September 2021,

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

announced the signing of Harper. Eight days later, Harper signed for Ascot United. He made his début for the club in the 5–0 win over Burnham on 28 September.

International career

Harper rejected the chance to go to the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

with

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

, saying: "I've never even been to Ghana. I don't know the colour of their flag and it's not my country. I wouldn't feel right putting on the shirt." He would have qualified to play for Ghana because his mother was born there.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

;Reading *

: 2005–06 ;Doncaster Rovers *

Football League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

: 2012–13

References

External links

James Harper profile
at the Doncaster Rovers website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Harper, James 1980 births Living people Footballers from Chelmsford English sportspeople of Ghanaian descent English footballers Men's association football midfielders Arsenal F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Reading F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Barnet F.C. players Basingstoke Town F.C. players Hayes & Yeading United F.C. players Hungerford Town F.C. players Metropolitan Police F.C. players Hendon F.C. players Gosport Borough F.C. players Walton Casuals F.C. players Uxbridge F.C. players Windsor F.C. (2011) players Ascot United F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players Isthmian League players Southern Football League players