Sharp

[Hartley Hare]

I wonder if the club have plans or would consider a testimonial match for Billy?

Would provide a chance for a send off at the BDTBL and a few quid for one last payday/local charity?

Any suggestions for opposition?

HH.

 

[Bladepicker]

Right decision, legend, hope he gets his 250 soon at another local club, probably back to Donny would be best all round.

Sad day but tempered by the fact that I'll never have to watch Sharpburnie again. Praise the lord.

 

[Bladesman]

It is coming from Nixon, so the opposite of that is possible as well.

 

[Ralph Blade]

It’s the right decision, if we’re taking sentiment out of it. Ideal scenario now is he hangs up his boots and joins the coaching staff. Would love for him to still be in and around the club. Been a huge part of our success and the reason why we are where we are, which often gets overlooked.

Absolutely, and I’m sure the young strikers we have would learn plenty from him, still it appears that quite a few players are still playing towards their forties these days so All The Very Best to him if he goes somewhere else to bang in the goals.

 

[Balham]

Some Luton players have been with the club since they were in the national League i think. i recall some commentator random facting something along the lines of that.

The only one left is Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu who joined midway through their National League title winning season. Three more (Dan Potts, James Shea and Luke Berry) joined in the summer of 2017, playing one season in League Two.

 

[Flumps]

It is coming from Nixon, so the opposite of that is possible as well.

Also who really wants him?

Don't get me wrong, that lad can't put much of a foot wrong in my eyes, he's a historic Blades player and deserves to be but he hasn't lost his touch or half arsing his performances - he's at the end of his career. The lad can continue to make a huge impact at the club for years to come just off the pitch. Unfortunately he looks like he's refusing to admit that to himself.

 

[Bladey_blade]

If funds allow I would’ve offered Billy a coaching role, starting at the academy

We may done exactly that, and he's said fuck off I want to play and that's how the talks ended

 

[John Street West Terrace]

Been a legend & talisman for the club & thank him for all his efforts . Reality is and we all know the time is right , he’ll get his 250th and more goals but it’ll be in League 1 or 2 .
If ever there was a proper GLTTL , this is it .
Cheers Billy & thanks for the memories , you’ll always be a legend at The Lane

 

[CrookesBlade]

My completely hypothetical situation is we’ve offered him a coaching role and a squad place on a coaches wage.

He probably hoped for similar on a players wage. From his point of view the club have just been promoted and can afford to give him that.

Maybe that’s what’s caused the upset. Not unreasonable necessarily to expect not to have a wage cut when you’ve just been promoted.

Likewise the club don’t see him playing so can’t justify a players wage when we are so hard up.

 

[Ron_Justice]

It's a shame, if he's kicking up a fuss, but understandable. He clearly still backs himself, but the coaching staff and stats men probably see things differently. Hopefully, he puts his rational head on and see's the bigger picture. Go and bag 26 more League goals somewhere, then get out into the trenches and learn his coaching/managing trade. If he's as good at that as he has been a player he'll be welcomed back to The Lane with open arms as Manager. Who knows, maybe we'll still be in the PL....

 

[More Bladier than thou]

Hecky needs to be ruthless if he is to keep us up in the epl. This is one of those decisions….

 

[Kozzy_is_my_Dad]

Truly devastating news if true, but also fully expected news. Billy is a club legend in every sense of the word, a true great. He was a giant for us, year in, year out.

That said, his pace, his influence, his contribution and his goals have been declining as we would expect for a nearly 38 year old - and we'd be asking him to step up the fastest, most ruthless league in the world next season, at that!

I love him though, the passion he brought, the goals, the fight, the shithousery, he gave every last scrap for us. There was a truly special time where we had a die hard Blade as manager and a die hard Blade as skipper. All whilst in the most successful period of our recent history. Magical. Unparalleled. Then, in recent years, you just always felt that we were in the safest of hands, whilst he was around the club. Now, we'll have some model pros, I don't doubt, but no one who quite gets what it all means, who feels as we do. I just wish he could've got the 250th to go with lifting the trophy.

Billy Sharp always has and always will, score goals. Bagsman, Bladesman, legend.

We are Sheff United, they call us the Blades, we've got Billy Sharp, he's a legend down the Lane...

 

[stringjunior]

I wasn't ready for this news

Take a look at your profile pic.

See, everything's a little better now, isn't it.

 

[Davalon]

We're already paying Brewster a fortune to perform this role

Apart from Brewter being injured, more than 10 years younger, and if getting fully fit with a much higher sell on fee.

 

[Bladesince59]

Scored as many as Illi, should we not offer him a new deal either?

You think McB is up there with Illi ?

 

[Stevo71]

Not a surprise.

Will still get up towards that 300 goals total somewhere else.

Surprisingly misunderstood,
Chronically under-utilised.

For a player that has made it very clear he wants to continue his career, this is a golden opportunity for one last hurrah.

Derby .

UTB

Probably see him at Donny next season

 

[Bill puntin]

Does he even want to coach? Has he even been doing his coaching badges? Would he be a better coach than whatever striking coach(es) we have right now?

Im sure he as been taking his badges who knows at what level

 

[CaptainMorgans]

Did he berate them like he did to Osula?

Love Billy and I get that his selfishness in front of goal is what has made him the player he is.
That was totally unfair on Osula though, a kid trying to find his feet in the game. In any case, squaring it wasn't the right option in that scenario.

 

[Blade58]

Why? He hasn't got the badges required for top level coaches and we have to get rid of the sentimentality with appointments, surely we have learnt our lesson with Chris Morgan.

I thought he’d been taking his badges?

 

[Silent Blade]

Love Billy and I get that his selfishness in front of goal is what has made him the player he is.
That was totally unfair on Osula though, a kid trying to find his feet in the game. In any case, squaring it wasn't the right option in that scenario.

I thought the way he had a go at him on Monday was OTT

 

[Bladeloyal]

Billy's time is up ,that's professional football he's been very well rewarded ,and has more to come with promotion .good luck billy what ever you do

 

[A Storm of Blades]

I thought the way he had a go at him on Monday was OTT

And also NO chance Sharp squares that.

 

[Yogi]

Echo the thoughts of many he’s a modern legend of the club and captained us to 3 promotions.

If this is how it ends for him here then there will be some tinges of regret that he didn’t get the send off he deserves at the last match and he didn’t get to 250 but nothing ever ends ideally.

Also it’s understandable if Billy is a bit pissed off that this is the end it’s that type of fire that’s made him the player he is. He’s had his fair share of downs with the club during his career as well as ups but it didn’t diminish his love for the place and I’m sure once the dust settles he’ll be back in some capacity down the line whether that’s in the stand on the coaching pitch or in the commentary box there’s no doubt he’ll get a hero’s welcome whenever he returns. I wish him nothing but the best whilst ever he decides to keep playing and hope to see him back in red and white as soon as he hangs up his boots. It’s been a privilege to watch him.

 

[Le Cynique]

Off to Wrexham

 

[Champagneblade]

He's had an absolutely amazing run.

Played for his boyhood club three times and captained them to promotion on three occasions too.

His last few weeks will have been taking us back up and one of the last memories will be of him berating Osula. Still thirsty for goals until the end!

Time doesn't wait for anyone though. Whilst some of us can justify him staying, handy experience to pass on, useful to have just in case etc, there are few of any examples of teams sticking with 37 year old strikers to lead you into the Premier League season.

He has been a talisman and an absolutely 100% dedicated club man. But he's also a striker who scored 3 times over 45 matches and 1,754 minutes; a goal every 6.5 full matches at the level below we will be operating next season. That's not really enough and I doubt the club can offer a wage that he'd find acceptable for the reality of the role he'll have.

Let him have a couple of years at local clubs, a few to go at Millers where he started and Donny for example, where he had good spells and then when he hangs up his boots let's have Geary get him involved with the kids.

Oh Captain, my Captain. What a pleasure it has been!

 

[ghandi]

I thought he’d been taking his badges?

My understanding is that he has a B licence and going for his A licence. There are also specialist badges for Academies for which an A licence is a pre-requisite.
He probably needs to get his Pro Licence before getting a reasonable coaching role, the A licence is a pre-requisite before being on a Pro Licence course.

 

[Grappler]

100% Blades legend and at his peak, an absolute goal scoring machine.

Cut him open and he would bleed red and white.

Great leader of men, never gave less than everything for the cause, and of course, one of us and one of our own.

If this really is goodbye, then thanks for everything, Billy.

 

[Zipwire]

I’d suspected before Sunday that it would be the last time we saw him play for the Blades.

I don’t like say it as he was always a talismanic figure and was one of the biggest parts of our ride from the malaise of the L1 days, and as far as I’m concerned he has got a huge amount of credit in the bank with the Blades but I think this season it has been more and more clear that his race is run at the Lane. He didn’t seem the same player that he once was and had morphed in to almost a defensive forward who you would bring on with 15 minutes to go and use his nous to hold the ball up and kill time out of the game.

Thanks for everything and I hope that any departure can be on the very best of terms and as far I’m concerned he will always be held in the highest regard

 

[GreasyChipBeattie]

Only found out the other day that my wife knows his neighbour. They can't speak highly enough of him and some of things he's offered to do (time and effort stuff not financial).

Tight f****r.

 

[DaveBassettsgoneonholiday]

My understanding is that he has a B licence and going for his A licence. There are also specialist badges for Academies for which an A licence is a pre-requisite.
He probably needs to get his Pro Licence before getting a reasonable coaching role, the A licence is a pre-requisite before being on a Pro Licence course.

Fallowfield has a bit more time on his hands since he got the boot off here, maybe he can help Billy with a bit of private tuition for his "A" Licence.......