the 2004–05 season he was loaned to Leicester City. In January 2005 was sold to Stoke City. Despite starting his Stoke career impressively, Harper was dogged by injuries that prevented him challenging for a first team place. He scored once for Stoke, in a 3–1 win over Norwich City. Harper was loaned to Carlisle United in October 2006 and then Walsall, whom he had played for on loan earlier in his career. He was released by Stoke manager Tony Pulis in May 2007. Return to Scotland On 7 July 2007, Harper opted to join Dunfermline Athletic, of the Scottish First Division. He scored the winning goal against Stirling Albion on 25 August 2007 and played in Dunfermline's UEFA Cup matches at home 16 August and away 30 August against BK Hacken FC of Sweden. Harper's season was rather inconsistent, though on 25 March 2008 he scored a hat-trick in a re-arranged fixture against First Division strugglers Stirling Albion. Coaching career Following the departure of their Under 20s coach, SPFL side Airdrieonians appointed Harper as the replacement in July 2015. He left this post in September 2015. Harper has also set up his own football academy based in Stepps. In November 2015, Thorniewood United manager and former Hibernian team-mate Andy Frame, persuaded Harper to come out of retirement and join the club in a player-coach role. Harper was appointed Albion Rovers manager in November 2018. He became the first black, Asian or minority ethnic manager of a Scottish club since Márcio Máximo in 2003. A struggling Rovers side won none of their first 12 matches under Harper, but then won five of their last nine fixtures in 2018–19 Scottish League Two to avoid relegation. In May 2019, Harper extended his contract with the club to the end of the 2019–20 season. Albion again avoided relegation by finishing ninth in that season, but Harper decided to leave the club at the end of his contract in May 2020. Harper later revealed that, despite having avoided relegation again with a very poor 9th-place finish, he had been offered reduced terms, in line with a greatly reduced club budget due to prevailing circumstances, to stay and believed the board could match the ambition he had for the club. In June 2020, Harper appeared in a special podcast panel discussing his experiences of racism in football with A View from the Terrace host Craig Fowler.