NEWCASTLE stalwart Steve Harper is ready to make an emotional return against former manager Kevin Keegan tomorrow if first-choice goalkeeper Shay Given is left holding the baby.

Given's wife Jane is expecting their first child next week but, should the contractions start early, the Republic of Ireland international will be allowed to miss tomorrow's Premiership clash with Manchester City.

The same situation applied in Athens this week, but Given was able to take his place in the United side that beat Panionios with Harper restricted to yet another appearance on the bench.

The 29-year-old has played just 45 minutes of first-team football this season - the second half of last month's 5-1 win over Hapoel Bnei Sakhnin - and has not started a Premiership game for almost four years.

His last 90-minute appearance came in last season's ill-fated Carling Cup defeat to West Brom but, should he be called into emergency action tomorrow, the Easington-born stopper is confident he will not let anybody down.

"It would be an opportunity for me," admitted Harper, who is two games short of 60 appearances for the Magpies. "But I'm on standby for every game so nothing really changes in that respect.

"With the run Shay's had, I doubt very much that he's going to have his baby on a match day, but I just hope everything goes well.

"I hope Jane's alright and, if she has it on a match day, it's up to me to go in and do the business.

"It's been a long time since I played in a league game, but it's a fact of life when you're a goalkeeper that you're either in or you're out.

"Playing me in Israel was a nice gesture from the gaffer and I really appreciated that 45 minutes. But you don't see anyone taking a goalkeeper off for the last ten or 20 minutes of a game.

"You don't get quarter of an hour here or there like players in other positions do - it just doesn't happen - and you can't complain about that."

If Harper was to get the nod tomorrow, he would find himself plotting the downfall of the first manager to teach him about the harsh realities of football.

After joining the Magpies from Seaham Red Star in 1991, Harper found himself unable to break into Keegan's 'Entertainers' in the early years of his United career.

The former Newcastle boss saw him as too inexperienced to be risked in the first team, preferring to stick with Czech favourite Pavel Srnicek and his replacement Shaka Hislop.

Harper was sent on a series of loan moves to learn his trade, spending time with the likes of Hartlepool, Huddersfield and Bradford while Newcastle went from strength to strength.

It wasn't until the arrival of Ruud Gullit that the North-Easterner finally broke through at St James' Park, with his senior debut coming as a substitute for the injured Given against Wimbledon in November 1998.

Keegan was never prepared to give him that chance, but Harper remains an avowed admirer of the current Manchester City boss and looks back on his time on Tyneside with fondness.

"I was very young when Kevin was at Newcastle," he said. "I was a bit of a raw talent really and it took me a few years to settle in because I didn't have the apprenticeship that other people had. I got loaned out and that was the best thing that could have happened to me.

"Kevin likes to have big, imposing goalkeepers and he always has done. He had Pavel and Shaka at Newcastle and they were both over six foot tall.

"He's had Peter Schmeichel and David James since - wherever he goes he seems to like big goalkeepers. He likes big-name players as well and I was young and wasn't really ready when Kevin was here.

"Every time I see him he always speaks, and it's always great when he comes back to Newcastle because he was a God here.

"I always remember Phillipe Albert chipping Peter Schmeichel in the 5-0 win over Manchester United and, for me, that was what Newcastle was all about under Kevin."

Harper has been unfortunate to find his United career coinciding with Given's time at the club, as the Irish international's consistency and luck with avoiding injury have kept him kicking his heels on the sidelines.

Most other Premiership clubs would be able to accommodate him in their starting line-up but, despite failing to live up to his potential at Newcastle, Harper has taken his misfortune with a pinch of salt.

Never one to bemoan his luck, the former East Durham Community College student was on the brink of a loan move to Championship side Leeds this summer before they swooped to sign Scotland international Neil Sullivan instead.

A future short-term switch remains a possibility if his chances continue to be restricted but, after first pulling on a Newcastle jersey in a juniors' game with Middlesbrough some 13 years ago, it will take something special to prise him away from St James' on a permanent basis.

"I've been here a long time and I know that this is a massive club," said Harper, who saved a penalty from Blackburn's Jeff Kenna in only his second full game for the Magpies.

"It's worth the wait to get your chance to play for Newcastle United because this is one of the top three or four clubs in the country and probably one of the top ten in Europe. To leave here would be a downward step."

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