FROM the sublime to the utterly ridiculous he has seen it all, but after 20 years at Newcastle Steve Harper is finally stepping off the black and white rollercoaster.

He's been there through the good times - the European campaigns, the Premier League and the Championship-winning season, but he's also been there through the bad - missing out on the title and relegation, not to mention several off-the-field scandals and the small matter of 18 different managers.

On Sunday, it will all come to an end and Harper will get his fairytale ending, albeit in rather fortuitous circumstances after Rob Elliot's red card against Queen's Park Rangers paved the way for one last appearance.

It will mark the end of another season in the circus that is Newcastle United, but more importantly it will mark the end of a rather big chapter in Harper's life.

"I think rollercoaster is the word," Harper said when asked to sum up his time at the club. "I do not know how to describe it without writing a headline for you. It's almost a bi-polar football club, isn't it?

"You are either reaching for the stars like the Champions League or you are going to be relegated. There is not enough middle ground at Newcastle. It is almost not acceptable to be doing 'alright'. It's either everything is rosy or the world is caving in."

When Harper drove through the gates at Newcastle's training ground - then Maiden Castle in Durham - for the very first time in 1993, he couldn't have possibly predicted what would happen over the next 20 years.

"It felt surreal,'' he confessed. "I have a picture in the house of the day I signed my contract. I was wearing a shirt and tie and Kevin Keegan had yellow shell-suit bottoms on. Terry Mac wasn't much better. It has flown over."

Sunday's game will be his 199th club appearance, not a lot over a 20-year timescale, but when the going got tough, the 38-year-old never jumped ship - even if there were offers to go and play more regularly.

Some have questioned the goalkeeper's decision to stay and play second fiddle to the likes of Shay Given and Tim Krul while picking up a healthy wage packet, but you only need to spend time with Harper to understand exactly why he didn't leave. And it's reasoning clearly not driven by money.

"Of course there are a few (boxes) left unticked,'' he admitted.

"If I could speak to myself ten years ago I would do it differently.

"I think I played about six matches in four years. That just is not right. For me, I should have done more about it at the time.

"I didn't want to (make any fuss). You went in and spoke to the manager if you had a problem. I did once and I am sure it was in one of the local papers with a headline that I wanted to play more. Sir Bobby battered me in his book about it as well!

"There might have been an opportunity to go out on loan but at the time, we were playing Champions League football and I actually managed to play in a couple of those games, which we won.

"It was a great time to be part of Newcastle Untied and I got carried along with it."

It wasn't all rosy, though. The Easington-born stopper has simply been through so much with his beloved club that moving on to pastures new was never an option. Even in the darkest days.

"There were those wilderness years," he explained.

"There was a time when Graeme Souness was here and I was struggling, really struggling. There were some dark times.

"It seems to be a bit more open now but I probably was a little bit depressed back then.

"But when you have a good club like this and you have been part of it for a long time it is only right that players admit to suffering.

"I was about 30 at the time, and it was really tough. You need help. You can't fight it yourself. You have to speak to people and get help. That is what I did.

"I got through it with the support of my family and particularly Lynsey, my wife, and by going to see a little old lady, a counsellor, and with medication from the doctors.

"It was very tough and the more you try and fight it the more it gets a hold of you. Fortunately more people are speaking of it now and it is almost more acceptable."

Harper will walk out on Sunday with his children; James, 9, Olivia, 7, and Leo 2, who will be mascots on what promises to be an emotional afternoon for the family.

He said: "I am sure walking down the tunnel will be special. I will be in game mode then. After that I don't know really.

"We will find out if there will be tears or not. Possibly. It is half my life. It will be very strange knowing that I will not be coming back."

There aren't many that will have experienced the things Harper has, good and bad, but he leaves with one piece of advice for anyone coming into Newcastle: "At this club, the people, the fans, they know if you've put the shift in and they'll back you to the hilt if you give your all on the pitch.

"I think Jermaine Jenas said years ago that this place is like a goldfish bowl. Everyone knows what you're doing, especially when you're a footballer.

"So you have to do the right things to be a success at this club.

"It's a great club to play for, but it can be a difficult club to play for and we've seen that with some of the players over the years, who have gone elsewhere and succeeded, who have found it tough here.

"It can be a heavy shirt, the Newcastle United shirt and you need to stand up and be counted."