Steve Harper had been at Newcastle United well over 10 years and in fact was 20 years and for his “testimonial” had created the Steve Harper Charity match.
The match at St James’s Park was staged to celebrate his career.
The teams included Newcastle legends Alan Shearer, Peter Beardsley and David Ginola and AC Milan old-timers Paolo Maldini, Christian Vieri , Franco Baresi and Paolo Di Canio.
The match attracted over 50,000 with Milan winning on penalties. The trophy was sponsored by Cool Designs and presented by Darrel Birkett of Cool Designs Ltd and David Dunn of Toshiba Air Conditioning.
The amount raised by Steve Harper was £327,000 with the monies being donated to the Newcastle United Foundation, Great North Children’s Hospital and the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation and through them the Alan Shearer Foundation, the Toma Fund, and the Clarke Lister Brain Haemorrhage Foundation.
