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When Howard Kendall took over as manager at Maine Road in December 1989,
City were bottom of the First Division with just fifteen points from
seventeen games. Not surprisingly the new manager began to look for
players that he knew instantly could perform a job for him. Naturally he
cast his mind back to his former days at Everton and so began an influx
of former Toffees to Maine Road over the next few months. His first
signing was the versatile Alan Harper, a 29 year-old
defender/midfielder, currently plying his trade with Sheffield Wednesday
having spent five years previously at Goodison Park.
Ironically
Harper's City debut came at Goodison Park on December 17th, four days
after a £150, 000 transfer fee had brought him across the Pennines.
Replacing Gary Fleming at right-back, Harper's debut finished goalless,
and with two more clean sheets immediately following (1-0 and 2-0 home
wins against Norwich and Millwall respectively), the Blues' frailties at
the back seemed to have been at least reduced if not stopped
completely. He switched to left-back later in the season and played in
an unbroken run of 24 League and Cup games. Along with Harper, other new
faces at the time included Colin Hendry and Peter Reid and in the end
City finished 14th, some 18 points away from any relegation worries.
Next time out, 1990/91, Harper found both full-back berths occupied by
the homegrown Ian Brightwell and another ex-Evertonian, Neil Pointon.
Undeterred by this, the former Liverpool apprentice moved effortlessly
into midfield and played a key role as City (now under the charge of
player/manager Peter Reid) rose to a final place of 5th in the League,
their highest position since 1977/78. Harper made a further 34/4
appearances this season and scored both his goals for the club. These
came in a 4-0 win against Torquay in the Rumbelows Cup in September and a
2-0 win against Coventry in the League the following month. On August
6th 1991 he returned to Goodison Park, later playing for Luton and
Burnley before finishing his career with Cardiff in 1996. Alan Harper
left Manchester City in a much healthier position than he had found
them. In total he played 58/4 times for the Blues having scored just
those two goals. (Ian Penney - author of The Legends of Manchester City)
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