Blades skipper, Billy Sharp, has revealed how close he came to signing for Sheffield Wednesday before sealing his return to Bramall Lane.
The United striker was speaking on the latest episode of the club’s new podcast, ‘One of Our Own‘, and went into plenty of detail about his career so far.
Sharp is currently in his third spell at Bramall Lane. After being sold by Neil Warnock then bought back by Bryan Robson, Sharp finally settled after making the move back to the club under Nigel Adkins’ tenure.
The experienced forward has enjoyed spells with a number of clubs including Leeds, Doncaster Rovers, and Scunthorpe United. However, Sharp has admitted he did indeed hold talks with bitter rivals, Sheffield Wednesday, back in 2007.
“Sheffield United weren’t even in for me. It was Sheffield Wednesday with Brian Laws”, Sharp said.
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“The Norwich manager Peter Grant wanted me upfront with Rob Earnshaw. Mick McCarthy was down the line with me at Wolves and to play with Andy Keogh who I’d done well with at Scunthorpe.
“Then Sheffield Wednesday. And you know what, a small percentage of me thought ‘you know what, go and show Sheffield United what they’re missing’. But I met with Brian Laws and then said to my Dad straight away, ‘I’m not signing for them’.”
Sharp admits he had to let Mick McCarthy down as he’d originally agreed to join Wolves. However, he insisted McCarthy understood given it was Sheffield United who Sharp was picking over the Molineux club.
Unthinkable
Looking back, it’s almost unfathomable that Sharp would have donned the blue and white of Wednesday.
The Blades star is red and white through and through. It is, therefore, hard to imagine him scoring for and celebrating goals for the Owls.
It is a mark of Sharp’s character, however, that he went and spoke with Brian Laws. The Blades skipper comes across as respectable throughout the podcast and clearly has a lot of time for a number of his former mentors.