Billy Sharp

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Billy Sharp
Personal information
Full name William Louis Sharp
Date of birth February 5, 1986 (1986-02-05) (age 22)
Place of birth    Sheffield, England
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position Striker, Winger
Club information
Current club Sheffield United
Number 24
Youth clubs
Sheffield United
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
2002–2005
2005
2005–2007
2007–		 Sheffield United
→ Rushden & Diamonds (loan)
Scunthorpe United
Sheffield United		 0020(0)
0160(9)
0820(53)
0290(4)   

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 09:19, 5 May 2008 (UTC).
* Appearances (Goals)

William Louis "Billy" Sharp (born 5 February 1986 in Sheffield) is an English professional footballer currently playing a striker role at Sheffield United.

Contents

[edit] Career

[edit] Sheffield United

Sharp started at Rotherham United as a schoolboy in the Academy after leaving his Sunday league team in his hometown of Dronfield, Derbyshire, but opted to join the Sheffield United Academy after Rotherham turned him away.

Sharp signed for Sheffield United as a schoolboy in 2002 but, after leaving the Academy, he failed to establish himself in manager Neil Warnock's squad. He made only two brief substitute appearances for United, the second and final of which coming in the last game of the 2004-2005 season.

[edit] Rushden and Diamonds (loan)

In January 2005, he went on loan to Rushden and Diamonds. Despite playing just 16 games Sharp became a very popular figure. Scoring 9 goals, one of them a last minute winner in the 3-2 win over local rivals Northampton Town, he helped prevent another relegation. His hat-trick against Boston Utd. was also memorable.

[edit] Scunthorpe United

After returning from his loan spell Sharp made two substitute appearances for United before he was sold to Scunthorpe United for £100,000 in August 2005. He soon became a firm favourite at Glanford Park scoring 24 goals in his first season with the league one club.

Sharp scored the 50th goal of his career in the 2-0 win at Carlisle United on 9 December 2006. He was featured on ITV's The Championship, and Scunthorpe United chairman Steve Wharton claimed he would reject a bid of £2 million for Sharp.

Sharp broke the Iron's 45 year old club record for most goals scored in a season on 28 April 2007. Barrie Thomas was the previous holder.

Sharp netted 30[1] times in the league in the 2006-07 season guiding his team to promotion into the Coca Cola Championship. This was the highest total in the 4 leagues of England [2] [3] [4] [5]. He scored a header in the televised defeat to Aston Villa, which only served to enhance his reputation across the nation. In all, he scored 56 goals in 95 games for Scunthorpe during his two seasons at Glanford Park.

With his goalscoring feats in the 2006-07 season, there was predictable interest from other clubs in Sharp, and a number of clubs made bids for the striker as the season ended. [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]

[edit] Sheffield United

Ultimately, lifelong Blades fan Sharp rejoined Sheffield United on 4 July for a fee of around £2 million, a deal that also saw Sheffield United's Jonathan Forte transferred to Scunthorpe. Sharp has been awarded the number 24 shirt for the Blades for the 2007-2008 season.[11]

Sharp made his first appearance of the season in a friendly against Longford Town and took just 14 minutes to open his account for the Blades with a header.

Sharp made his full Sheffield United first team debut in the opening game of the 2007-2008 season, a 2-2 draw with Colchester United.[12] He scored his first competitive goals for the club in September, hitting two against Morecambe in a 5-0 third round Carling Cup victory.[13] He then went on to score his first league goal after a long time waiting, on 11th March 2008 in a 2-1 win at home against Coventry City.[14] Sharps second league goal came the game after against Norwich City on the 15th March 2008,[15] and he scored his third in the next game against Barnsley with a neat finish from the edge of the box. He then scored his fourth league goal of the season in the win at Burnley.[16]

[edit] Statistics

Club Performance
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Europe Others Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
Sheffield United 2007-081 29 4 4 0 3 2 0 0 0 0 36 6
Scunthorpe United 2006-07 45 30 3 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 50 32
2005-06 37 23 4 0 2 0 0 0 2 1 45 24
Rushden & Diamonds (loan) 2004-05 16 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16 9
Sheffield United 2004-05 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Total 129 66 11 1 7 3 0 0 2 1 149 71

1 Last updated 5 May 2008

[edit] Notes and References

  1. ^ BBC SPORT Football - My Club - Sheff Utd - Sharp gets Blades return ticket. BBC News (2007-07-04). Retrieved on 2007-09-12.
  2. ^ BBC SPORT - Football - My Club - Chelsea - Drogba collects Golden Boot award:. BBC News (2007-05-18). Retrieved on 2007-09-13.
  3. ^ Divisional Scorers - The Football League - Stats - FLC. The Football League. Retrieved on 2007-09-13.
  4. ^ Divisional Scorers - The Football League - Stats - FL1. The Football League. Retrieved on 2007-09-13.
  5. ^ Divisional Scorers - The Football League - Stats: FL2. The Football League. Retrieved on 2007-09-13.
  6. ^ "Sharp must make decision on Owls", BBC Sport, 2007-05-15. Retrieved on 2007-05-15. 
  7. ^ "Iron reject Owls offer for Sharp", BBC Sport, 2007-05-16. Retrieved on 2007-05-16. 
  8. ^ "Iron confirm Norwich's Sharp bid", BBC Sport, 2007-05-29. Retrieved on 2007-05-29. 
  9. ^ "Preston confirm interest in Sharp", BBC Sport, 2007-05-19. Retrieved on 2007-05-19. 
  10. ^ Sharp in talks with Norwich. The Pink 'Un (2007-06-20). Retrieved on 2007-06-20.
  11. ^ "Sharp gets Blades' return ticket", BBC Sport, 2007-07-04. Retrieved on 2007-07-04. 
  12. ^ "Sheff Utd 2-2 Colchester", BBC Sport, 2007-08-11. Retrieved on 2007-11-09. 
  13. ^ "Sheff Utd 5-0 Morecambe", BBC Sport, 2007-09-25. Retrieved on 2007-11-09. 
  14. ^ "Sheff Utd 2-1 Coventry", BBC Sport, 2008-11-03. Retrieved on 2008-11-03. 
  15. ^ Sheff Utd 2-0 Norwich. BBC Sport (2008-15-03). Retrieved on 24 March 2008.
  16. ^ Barnsley 0-1 Sheff Utd. BBC Sport (2008-22-03). Retrieved on 24 March 2008.

[edit] External links

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