NUFC Interview: Steve Harper Thanks The Crowd – And Di Canio – After A Night To Remember

Former Newcastle United goalkeeper Steve Harper paid tribute to the near 51,000 crowd that showed up for his testimonial on Wednesday night, and also had words of praise for Sunderland manager Paolo Di Canio. The ex-Magpies stopper assembled a team of black and white legends for the match against an equally star-studded AC Milan line-up, which included the Black Cats' boss. With his every touch booed throughout the match, Di Canio took his revenge in the penalty shootout after the goalless draw, and scored from the spot to put his side in front. And though he felt the full force of a challenge from Joey Barton in the second-half, the former Celtic and West Ham star took it on the chin and played his part in raising thousands for charity. After the game, Harper said: "If I was a betting man I would have tried to get a bet on Joey doing that, but I think the odds would have been pretty short! "But huge credit must go to Paolo Di Canio. One of the beneficiaries was the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation and he would have loved that because he was a big fan of North-East football. "For Paolo to come over here and play the whole game was great and he looked like he enjoyed every minute of it. "He got his penalty, and got too close to Joey at one point, but huge credit to him and he's certainly helped to raise a lot of money for some wonderful causes in the region. "It was a brilliant night, and I can't thank the fans enough for buying into the concept of what we wanted to do. I'd love to thank each and every one of them." It was an emotional occasion for the 38-year-old, who is now on the books of Premier League new boys Hull City after 20 years at St. James' Park. And though Harper missed his all-important spot-kick during the deciding shootout, the Easington-born keeper was full of gratitude after what he described as the best night of his career. He said: "I was stuck on 199 games for the club after the Arsenal match at the end of last season, so I'm claiming that as my 200th, and it was a fitting way to do it. "I had my farewell against Arsenal, and this was about using my time served here to say thank you to the people of the region. Hopefully they really enjoyed it. "I'm truly humbled by everything about the evening. The fans were incredible and on the pitch it was a who's who of the last 20 years, so I thank them all." And on his penalty miss, Harper added: "My son, who scored a penalty in the half-time shootout in front of 50,000 people, was probably crying with laughter at mine. "The goalkeeper even stood still to let me score and I smashed it straight at him!"