Southampton fans have been paying tribute to Sheffield United’s Billy Sharp.
Billy Sharp celebrates Southampton winning promotion to the Premier League
Southampton have become notorious for selling their best players in recent seasons, but not all of those the club move on have climbed football’s hierarchy.
Many of the players who were pivotal in the Saints’ rise from League One to Premier League mediocrity were deemed not to be up to top flight standard so let go, and perhaps none more controversially than Billy Sharp.
Having arrived in January 2012 while Southampton were in a top two shootout with West Ham – although it was Reading who would ultimately win the Championship that year – he soon became a fans’ favourite with nine goals in 15 games.
That included a brace against local rivals Portsmouth and the crucial first goal in a 4-0 win over Coventry on the final day to secure promotion.
Sharp was never given a proper chance in the Premier League, making just two substitute appearances before being shipped out on a series of loans and eventually sold, but those in red and white on the South Coast haven’t forgotten about him.
Billy Sharp has four more goals than any other player in League One
And as Sharp, again playing in red and white for boyhood club Sheffield United secured promotion to the Championship at the weekend, many took to Twitter to congratulate him.
And that wasn’t the only good news – the top scorer in League One with 26 goals, he has also been named the division’s player of the season.
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