| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | William Louis Sharpe | ||
| Date of birth | 5 February 1986 | ||
| Place of birth | Sheffield, England | ||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Doncaster Rovers | ||
| Number | 10 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Rotherham United | |||
| Sheffield United | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2004–2005 | Sheffield United | 3 | (0) |
| 2005 | → Rushden & Diamonds (loan) | 16 | (9) |
| 2005–2007 | Scunthorpe United | 82 | (53) |
| 2007–2010 | Sheffield United | 51 | (8) |
| 2009–2010 | → Doncaster Rovers (loan) | 33 | (15) |
| 2010– | Doncaster Rovers | 80 | (40) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15:54, 31 December 2011 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). |
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William Louis "Billy" Sharp (born 5 February 1986) is an English professional footballer who currently plays as a striker for Doncaster Rovers. He is now widely known for playing in a game for Doncaster Rovers against Middlesbrough two days after his two-day-old son's death. He scored the opening goal and celebrated by pulling up his shirt, with another shirt underneath reading 'That's for you son'.[1]
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Born in Sheffield, Sharp began his career with the youth teams of Rotherham United and Sheffield United, before making his senior debut for Sheffield United during the 2004–05 season. He joined Rushden and Diamonds on loan in January 2005, before moving to Scunthorpe United in 2005. Sharp netted 30[2] 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.[3][4][5][6] 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.[7][8][9][10][11]
Ultimately, lifelong Blades fan Sharp rejoined Sheffield United on 4 July 2007 for a fee of around £2 million, a deal that also saw Sheffield United's Jonathan Forte transferred to Scunthorpe. Sharp was allocated the number 24 shirt.[12]
Sharp made his full Sheffield United first team debut in the opening game of the 2007–08 season, a 2–2 draw with Colchester United.[13] He scored his first competitive goals for the club in September, scoring two against Morecambe in a 5–0 third round League Cup victory[14] but had to wait until March to score his first league goal, in a 2–1 win at home against Coventry City.[15] After finally breaking his duck he went on to score three more times before the end of the season.
Sharp started the 2008–09 season brightly, scoring a perfect hat-trick (header, right foot, left foot) in the Blades' first home game, against Queens Park Rangers. He scored the equaliser in a 1–1 home draw to Coventry a few weeks later, but that proved to be his last league goal of the season. Sharp did score twice more in the FA Cup including a goal against Hull City during a fifth-round replay. During the same game, Sharp was incorrectly booked for diving by referee Peter Walton who later apologised for his mistake.[16] With the club rebuilding the team following their failure to gain promotion, Sharp was placed on the transfer list in July 2009.[17]
Sharp signed a season long-loan with Championship club, Doncaster Rovers on 1 September 2009.[18] He was given the number 5 for the season, an unusual choice for a striker.[19] He made his debut on 12 September against Reading, he scored his first goal just two games later against former club, Scunthorpe United.[20] With ten goals in seventeen games, meant interest came in from a number of clubs, and Sheffield United would allow the striker to move away during the January transfer market, with both Doncaster Rovers and fellow Championship club Barnsley reported to be looking to sign the striker.[21] Near the end of the season, a knee injury stopped Sharp's season but however he still managed to finish with 15 goals in 33 league games.
During the summer transfer window, Sheffield United rejected an initial bid of what was though to be £1 million from Doncaster on 20 May, but they hadn't given up hope of signing the striker.[22] On 29 June, Sharp rejected a move to relegated Premier League side Burnley, despite the £1 million being accepted by United.[23] Sharp finally signed for Doncaster Rovers on 7 July 2010 for £1.15 million, beating their record fee of £300,000 for Matthew Mills from Manchester City. Sharp signed a three-year contract, which kept him at Keepmoat Stadium till the summer of 2013.[24]
Sharp made his second debut on 7 August, scoring in his first game back against Preston North End. Sharp also managed to score against another of his former clubs, Sheffield United in a 2–0 victory for Rovers, but was forced off in the first half with a hamstring problem.[25] It was later confirmed that he would be out for at least six weeks.[26] In his return, against Leicester City, Sharp managed to score a six minute opener at the Walkers Stadium. On 3 March 2011, Sharp told BBC Radio that he would need a hernia operation but would try to hold it till the end of the season so that he could reach a 20 goal milestone.[27] Despite failing to reach this milestone, bids still came in for Sharp in the summer window, Doncaster rejected two bids, £2.3 million from Ipswich Town. Shortly after Southampton put a bid in for £3.25m which Sharp himself rejected. They are reported to be bidding for his services again in the January transfer window.[28][29]
On 2 November 2011, two days following the death of his two-day-old son, Sharp netted a superb volley to open the scoring in the 14th minute.[30] He celebrated by taking off his jersey, unveiling an undershirt that read "That's For You Son" and was not awarded the usual yellow card for excessive celebration by referee Darren Deadman, for his emotional celebration.[31] Doncaster lost the game to Middlesbrough 3-1.[32] Sharp scored another great goal on 7 November in his side's impressive 3-2 win against Ipswich at Portman Road.[33] The home fans even had a standing ovation and applauded Sharp as he celebrated his goal, with the player later stating that the gesture brought a smile to him.[34]
Billy Sharp has influenced many players, such as Jamil Adam
On 2 January 2012, it was widely reported that West Ham United had activated Sharp's release clause.
| Club Performance | League | Domestic Cup | League Cup | Continental | Other | Total | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| England | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Other | Total | ||||||||
| 2004–05 | Sheffield United | Championship | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 2 | 0 | ||
| 2004–05 | Rushden & Diamonds | League Two | 16 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 16 | 9 | |
| 2005–06 | Scunthorpe United | League One | 37 | 23 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | - | 2 | 1 | 45 | 24 | |
| 2006–07 | 45 | 30 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | 0 | 0 | 50 | 33 | |||
| Total | 82 | 53 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 2 | - | 2 | 1 | 95 | 57 | |||
| 2007–08 | Sheffield United | Championship | 29 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 2 | - | - | 36 | 6 | ||
| 2008–09 | 22 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 25 | 5 | ||||
| 2009–10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | - | - | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Total | 51 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 3 | - | - | 62 | 12 | ||||
| 2009–10 | Doncaster Rovers | Championship | 33 | 15 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | 35 | 15 | |||
| 2010–11 | 29 | 15 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 31 | 16 | ||||
| 2011–12 | 18 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 18 | 10 | ||||
| Total | 80 | 40 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 84 | 41 | ||||
| Overall | 228 | 109 | 17 | 3 | 9 | 5 | - | 2 | 1 | 256 | 118 | |||
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