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Jonnyboy
09-02-2010, 11:24 PM
Those who read my recent thread about the scoring exploits of one Angus Plumb will be intrigued to read of another Hibs striker’s prowess in front of goal – Joe Harper or as Doddie and other enlightened .netters might call him, A Plum.

Harper was not a universally popular signing when he joined Hibs from Everton in 1974, mainly due to the fact that he was held responsible for breaking up the Tornadoes forward line although the truth of the matter is that he was innocent of that charge with Eddie Turnbull being the guilty party.

I wont bore you here with the myriad of reasons as to why Harper was disliked as I’m sure others will post to put you in the picture. :wink: Instead, I’ll reluctantly detail a wee scoring spree that the barrel, erm I mean Joe enjoyed in 1974 when he scored in nine consecutive matches

22/07/1974 Friendly in Sweden – Rosenberg 1 Hibs 3 Pat Stanton (2), Joe Harper
24/07/1974 Friendly in Sweden – Nesse Guttem 0 Hibs 4 Joe Harper, Iain Munro, Pat Stanton, Alan Gordon
27/07/1974 Drybrough Cup tie Hibs 2 Kilmarnock 1 – Arthur Duncan, Joe Harper
31/07/1974 Drybrough Cup tie Hibs 2 Rangers 3 – Joe Harper (2)
02/08/1974 Friendly Hibs 5 NEC Nijmegen (Holland) 0 – Joe Harper (5)
10/08/1974 League Cup Section Hibs 3 Rangers 1 – Alan Gordon, Arthur Duncan, Joe Harper
14/08/1974 League Cup Section Dundee 2 Hibs 1 – Joe Harper
17/08/1974 League Cup Section Hibs 4 St. Johnstone 0 – Bobby Smith (2), Joe Harper, Arthur Duncan
21/08/1974 League Cup Section Hibs 4 Dundee 2 – Bobby Smith, Alan Gordon, Arthur Duncan, Joe Harper

Removed
09-02-2010, 11:28 PM
So my dad was wrong about him then :greengrin

If I use the word 'Harper' he still gives it :grr: :grr: :grr:

I was young and impressionable at the time

ian cruise
09-02-2010, 11:28 PM
i dont remember his time at hibs, before my time im afraid, but i do remember serving him regularly in the pub, fud of a man im afraid. his son was great though

Jonnyboy
09-02-2010, 11:29 PM
So my dad was wrong about him then :greengrin

If I use the word 'Harper' he gives it :grr: :grr: :grr:

I was young and impressionable at the time

Yer Paw was on the button :agree:

Jonnyboy
09-02-2010, 11:30 PM
i dont remember his time at hibs, before my time im afraid, but i do remember serving him regularly in the pub, fud of a man im afraid. his son was great though

No arguments from here :agree:

Riordans Boots
09-02-2010, 11:41 PM
No arguments from here :agree:

Just for good measure then J - He and Sir Alex never got on :stirrer:

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/aberdeenfc/Joe-Harper-interview-No-ordinary.4722471.jp

PatHead
09-02-2010, 11:49 PM
Sorry to hijack thread but noticed Bobby Smith's name. Anyone got an idea how he is?

Biggie
09-02-2010, 11:55 PM
aye Joe Harper....wasn't impressed when he signed for us, as others commented that was the break up of a great forward line....think it was Jim O'Rourke that was the victim...devastated.....still intrigued enough to go thru to Falkirk for his debut though...***** 0-0 if I remember right.

Jonnyboy
09-02-2010, 11:58 PM
aye Joe Harper....wasn't impressed when he signed for us, as others commented that was the break up of a great forward line....think it was Jim O'Rourke that was the victim...devastated.....still intrigued enough to go thru to Falkirk for his debut though...***** 0-0 if I remember right.

Spot on :agree:

--------
10-02-2010, 12:23 AM
So my dad was wrong about him then :greengrin

If I use the word 'Harper' he still gives it :grr: :grr: :grr:

I was young and impressionable at the time


Your dad had it JUST RIGHT, mate.

That run that Jonnyboy detailed was the best run of form the wee toe-rag ever put together in a Hibs shirt, and significantly it includes 4 friendlies and 2 Drybrough Cup games.

The second of the Drybrough games sums the slimy wee squit up perfectly, IMO. In the previous two seasons we had won the Drybrough - without Harper's dubious services. The Rangers game was the semi-final. Rangers MURDERED us - 3-0 up with about ten minutes to play.

Lardbelly had been anonymous throughout - didn't want big Colin Jackson mussing up his hairdo, I think - Blubberguts just loved to have his hair permed, and it was looking particularly fetching that evening, IIRC. He was a cowardly wee animal, anyway. Only when the game was way past redemption did Sweetpea decide to show face - scored one (consolation) and then another right at the death when there was simply no point at all.

Looks good on the scoresheet and in the records - on the night it was totally freakin futile, pointless and beyond the faintest similarity to a joke. Exactly similar to his League Cup Final hat-trick - only of benefit to J. Harper's place in the record-books - no earthly use to the club that was apying his not inconsiderable wages.

You will notice that in the games that MATTERED - the League Cup group matches, he scored 4 in 4 - out of a total of 12. Bobby and Arthur had 3 each, Alan G had 2. What these stats don't reveal are the number of times he went hmself when he should have passed to one of the others, the missed chances, the times when he was posted missing as part of the tam where Jim O'Rourke would have been there for his team-mates.

Joe Harper was a purulent pus-laden pestilence on the fair face of Hibernian Football Club, a herpetic hyperglobular haemorrhoid, a bloated bladder of criminal crapulence never exceeded from that day to this.

(And breathe..... :devil:)

Clear? :cool2:

Sandy
10-02-2010, 08:45 AM
Jim O'Rourke would have been there for his team-mates.

Joe Harper was a purulent pus-laden pestilence on the fair face of Hibernian Football Club, a herpetic hyperglobular haemorrhoid, a bloated bladder of criminal crapulence never exceeded from that day to this.

(And breathe..... :devil:)

Clear? :cool2:

That about sums it up for me as well Doddie, to lose O'Rourke for that fat lazy over ego inflated piece of *******, was a crime of the highest order. I have read his drivel time and time again in the Evening express/P&J in Aberdeen and each time I come away thinking 'that's another 90 seconds of my life I will never get back', his ego does indeed know no bounds.

khib70
10-02-2010, 08:59 AM
Your dad had it JUST RIGHT, mate.

That run that Jonnyboy detailed was the best run of form the wee toe-rag ever put together in a Hibs shirt, and significantly it includes 4 friendlies and 2 Drybrough Cup games.

The second of the Drybrough games sums the slimy wee squit up perfectly, IMO. In the previous two seasons we had won the Drybrough - without Harper's dubious services. The Rangers game was the semi-final. Rangers MURDERED us - 3-0 up with about ten minutes to play.

Lardbelly had been anonymous throughout - didn't want big Colin Jackson mussing up his hairdo, I think - Blubberguts just loved to have his hair permed, and it was looking particularly fetching that evening, IIRC. He was a cowardly wee animal, anyway. Only when the game was way past redemption did Sweetpea decide to show face - scored one (consolation) and then another right at the death when there was simply no point at all.

Looks good on the scoresheet and in the records - on the night it was totally freakin futile, pointless and beyond the faintest similarity to a joke. Exactly similar to his League Cup Final hat-trick - only of benefit to J. Harper's place in the record-books - no earthly use to the club that was apying his not inconsiderable wages.

You will notice that in the games that MATTERED - the League Cup group matches, he scored 4 in 4 - out of a total of 12. Bobby and Arthur had 3 each, Alan G had 2. What these stats don't reveal are the number of times he went hmself when he should have passed to one of the others, the missed chances, the times when he was posted missing as part of the tam where Jim O'Rourke would have been there for his team-mates.

Joe Harper was a purulent pus-laden pestilence on the fair face of Hibernian Football Club, a herpetic hyperglobular haemorrhoid, a bloated bladder of criminal crapulence never exceeded from that day to this.

(And breathe..... :devil:)

Clear? :cool2:
Hmm. I think you're letting the spherical ****bag off far too lightly there, Doddie. If ever there was an alleged man for whom the word "bawbag" was made to measure - step forward J Harper.

And you don't even mention his "scoring" feats against his beloved Sheep.:grr::grr:

Removed
10-02-2010, 09:09 AM
And they say time is a healer :greengrin