Steve Harper - Loyal?

I'm sure this will be a contentious issue amongst a few people, but thought I'd share my opinion.

I'm a bit fed up of Steve Harper being continually lauded as one of the most loyal men in football. It hasn't just cropped up over this weekend with him playing in his final Newcastle game - it's been going on for years. In my opinion he doesn't deserve such a tag.

If somebody has spent 20 years at a club and spent the vast majority of time on the bench, I wouldn't be praising his loyalty, I would be questioning his ambition. You could perhaps understand it if he was an outfield player, but goalkeepers have a far lesser likelihood of getting injured or fatigued, and there is only one place up for grabs. Providing Shay Given/Tim Krul/Whoever is fit, Harper knew he wouldn't be getting a game any time soon.

At the end of the day the guy has been earning a seven figure salary for 20 years just to sit on the bench. Regardless of their love for a club, I would have thought any professional footballer with a shred of ambition would have moved on long ago in such circumstances. It's a comparatively short career, even goalkeepers can't go on forever, and if it were me I'd look back and think what might have been had I gone elsewhere. I wouldn't be holding my head high knowing I'd spent more time warming the bench than standing between the sticks.

Thoughts?