Billy Sharp is talking goals, and lots of them given no English player has scored more in League football in the 21st century. ‘I got one in training today,’ he says, ‘I enjoyed that as much as I always do when it hits the net.’
But there is one goal that means the most among the 220 that put him in the record books this month.
Sharp, now in his third spell at boyhood club Sheffield United and having smiled his way through memories of a 14-year scoring odyssey, is asked to take us back to October 2011 when he played for Doncaster Rovers.
Sheffield United striker Billy Sharp has scored more goals than anyone in League football
Sharp's most poignant goal came shortly after the death of his baby son, Luey
He is jogging on the outskirts of Leeds. The previous day, at the nearby Martin House Hospice, his baby son Luey had died. He was two days old.
‘I remember some guy, a Rovers fan, he wound his window down and said - although I’ll leave some of it out - “Sharp, so are you leaving then?”.
There was speculation at the time. He obviously didn’t know what had happened,’ says Sharp, the incident clearly a point of focus amid a blur of emotions.
‘We had a game the next day. I was out jogging because I’d rang Dean Saunders (Doncaster manager) and told him I wanted to play. I needed to get out of the room I was in at the time. I was angry as well.
‘I remember on the jog thinking, “Am I doing the right thing? Should I be leaving my wife?”. But I just wanted to do something for my son, I wanted one goal for him.’
On reflection, Sharp considers playing so soon 'was selfish... but I had to score that goal'
After just 14 minutes, he had it. The enduring image of that night versus Middlesbrough is Sharp revealing a message on his vest: ‘That’s for you son’.
‘Leaving my wife to grieve on her own for the day... it was a bit selfish’ he says. ‘But I had to score that goal.’
Sharp’s wife, Jade, revealed last year how she later contemplated suicide.
‘Personal tragedies cause people to suffer mental-health problems,’ says Sharp, talking to us from the comfort of Bramall Lane.
‘I’ve got football to thank, it gave me a release. It’s a special sport that gives you hard times, yes, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.’
The couple now have two sons, Leo and Milo. Sharp calls them his ‘beautiful boys’. But he pauses.
‘Every day you wish Luey was still here,’ he says. ‘Looking at my two boys, they don’t replace him, but they make me think what it would be like to have my three boys now.
‘They love coming to the football. It would have been great to have the three of them watching.’
Goal No 1. The Swansway Chester Stadium. Saturday February 5, 2005.
‘It was my 19th birthday,’ recalls Sharp, then on loan at League Two Rushden & Diamonds.
Chester were 3-0 up when he poached a late consolation.
‘It wasn’t the best of goals,’ he says, ‘but it got me off the mark and my name on the vidiprinter. One of my friends sent me the picture - you never get tired of seeing that.’
Sharp returned to Sheffield United, where Neil Warnock was manager.
‘He said I was the best finisher at the club. Two days later I was sold to Scunthorpe for £100,000!’ says Sharp, now 32.
Sharp's first league goal was almost 14 years ago for Rushden & Diamonds
