For me it was a big mistake letting Billy Sharp go out on loan for the season, perhaps his contribution might not have been great but it could have been vital.

When Billy Sharp arrived at St mary's he was one of the top marksman in the Championship, intially he struggled to get a game with Tadanari Lee preferred, but after Lee got injured in came Sharp and it has to be said his goals in that final third of the season pushed us over the line, he just had that knack of being in the right place at the right time and putting the ball in the net, more often than not they were goals that mattered as well.

It was clear in the summer that Sharp's chances might be limited in the Premier, firstly because Saints were going to play one up front and that was going to be either new signing Jay Rodriguez or Rickie Lambert, but Billy Sharp would surely be a good player to have on the bench and to come on and look for that late goal that might just change a game and for a team likely to be in a relegation dogfight, two games can change a season.

Initially that looked to be the case and he came on as sub in the opening two games of the season, up at Man City and at home to Wigan, but then came a strange bit of transfer wheeler dealing, in came Mayuka for £3.5 million and with all haste it seemed that Sharp was forced out of the club, in his position you would have thought that with a chance in the Premier league he would have preferred to have stayed at least till January and see if he got a chance, but seemingly on the verge of the deadline he was railroaded out to Nottingham Forest, in hindsight whoever had paid that £3.5 million clearly did not want Sharp in the way, despite there being room in the squad for him.

So after 20 minutes of Premier league football plus 85 minutes in the Carling Cup and a goal against Stevenage Sharp was gone for the season, allegedly at his request a clause in the contract stating that he couldnt be recalled.

I would say that he was not happy with being forced out and was clearly told in no uncertain terms that he would not be allowed a chance to prove himself should he choose to stay.

I would also say that Sharp's contribution in the opening two games was no more or less than Mayuka gave us in the next 36, indeed for the £3.5 million fee, plus a not insignificant amount in wages to not only Mayuka but I would hazard a guess we were subsidising Sharp at Forest, we got not a lot from that.

Personally although Sharp is not what you would call your Premier League glamour boy he does have that knack, as we know for his 2 hours and 10 minutes on the pitch we got zilch from Mayuka, if Sharp had got the same game time, as limited as it would have been, I would have had money on him getting a goal or two, there are plenty of games were that would have been vital, if he had done it once in the last game against Stoke that would have been worth two places and £1.5 million.

Why he was not allowed to get the chance to prove he could do a job in the Premier League is anyones guess, personally I would like to see him given that chance next season, Im not putting him forward as the next Suarez or anything, but football these days is a squad game and i think given our squad and the number of player who contributed little to our season in it, Sharp would certainly have been a better bet in one of the berths than half a dozen who occupied one.

Sadly I think his time at St Mary's is over, to bring him back into the squad would mean the finger would well and truly be pointed at someone as to why we brought in Mayuka and shipped off Sharp sharpish and that probably isnt going to happen.

So if he does go, good luck to Billy Sharp, he repaid his £1.8 million fee many times over with those vital goals in 11/12 season, sadly we know what thanks he got for that.     

Photo: Action Images

saintandy11 added 11:02 - Jun 13 A little like Kevin Philips & Jermain Defoe, Billy is one of the games more natural goal scorers having the knack of being in the right place at the right time, a player that we don't have in our squad. For me he is an ideal impact player, coming on in the last 20 mins to grab a goal if needed. I think it is a disgrace that while certain other players have been given a chance to prove themselves in the top league he wasn't and I for one cannot understand why. It can't be his lack of pace because lets be honest SRL doesn't scare too many defenders with his. I really hope he is give a chance in the coming season but if not then I wish him well.

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Saintpaul120 added 11:10 - Jun 13 Billy Sharp did not like it here in the South of England; spoke with the club who presumably as you say, could not guarantee him game time, and he said that 'from what he heard the best move was away from the club' and off he went oop north, a place he loves. He certainly is better than what we've seen from Mayuka who I think will be gone this transfer window. I don't think we'll ever know what went down in Billy's talks with SFC but we should remember his goals and especially the Pompey one.

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BaselSaint added 11:37 - Jun 13 Mayuka in, Billy out...ooops...
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ExiledSupporter added 12:02 - Jun 13 Agree wholeheartedly with you views Nick (and those of Saintandy). The remaining questions in my mind are a) was he only bought to give us a bit more impetus to attain promotion (and to keep Adkins on-side - who was perhaps his main advocate) and b) who forced him out of the club to make way for Mayuka - Cortese and Reed for certain! Did the same thinking apply to Lee?

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stmichael added 13:41 - Jun 13 2 things Mayuka or Sharpe? Even a complete retard would have to agree that Sharpe would offer us more. Secondly I think billy would rather play every week in the championship than be on our bench for 10 minutes here and there.
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slynch added 15:29 - Jun 13 FACT BREAK: He's scored 10 goals and is the 23rd top scorer in the Championship. http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/football/championship/top-goalscorers.html
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SaintNick added 15:56 - Jun 13 What he has done In the championship for Notts Forest is irrelevant to what he could have done at Saints. Fact break Mayuka has scored 0 goals and managed 2 hrs 12 mins on the pitch, I wont hazard a guess where that puts him in various Premier appearance lists and goals lists, but I guess in both of them it will be a lot lower than 23rd. With Sharp its all about what he brought to the squad, if that was 2 hrs & 12 mins football and 2 goals against Stoke and Sunderland then that would have been a big commitment, our problem is the squad is too shallow and every time we bring this up we don't concentrate on how little certain players have contributed for Saints but how little others have done on loan to try and justify that. Loads try to justify why Sharp has failed at Forest, loads try to justify why Mayuka was a good signing, one for the future etc,

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Jesus_02 added 16:58 - Jun 13 Thanks for writing the article Nick, I’m not sure that I agree with you and I also don’t think that your response to slynch really is inspiring debate, but thanks for the opportunity :) I don’t think anyone was forcing anyone to do anything in all honesty. I’m not sure that Billy would have "managed" any more than 2hrs and 12mins on the pitch. And regardless of what he may or may not have done with that time it is worth considering that he may not have wanted to hang around for 2hrs and 12mins of football. We where not going to play 2 up front that often and he wasn’t getting in the team ahead of Lambert so it was decided better off for all that he continued to play rather than sit and watch. I don’t think Mayuka was a direct replacement for Sharp and I don’t think a young player deserves such vitriol. He came well recommended and as he was young he would be more happy coming off the bench and trying to prove himself. Perhaps he was a replacement for Forte? The only “Fact” I can see is that Billy is at least a good Championship player. By being loaned out he has a good opportunity to be playing most games next season somewhere else and saints are likely to get a fee for him. I think the chances of that happening if he had “managed 2hrs and 12mins” would have been pretty slim

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Kiwifiedpom1 added 21:58 - Jun 13 Politics in football is inevitable hateful as it is. I still cling to the silly notion of a players natural ability being paramount.
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felly1 added 22:29 - Jun 13 He is a Championship player , he lacks pace and skill and physical presence of a Premier league player and he does not have Rickie's ability to bring others into the game so it;s true he may well have nicked a couple of goals here and there but you could say the same about Lee Barnard but I feel both of them would be more of a liabilty than a threat . Sure Mayuka has not looked good enough either and we would do well to move him on and bring in someone new but he had pace and movement that gave defenders something to think about.

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SaintNick added 10:40 - Jun 14 some interesting points, first thing yes Sharp may be a "Championship" player, but then again you would say the same about Puncheon this time last year. I dodnt think we were going to play two up front, but every team needs to chase games at times in the final third, throw another forward on and throw caution to the wind, Sharp was that sort of player for that job, would he have wanted to do that and not start games, Im sure that he would have, this might be his only shot in the Premier I think he would have wanted to give it at least till Xmas. Would he have managed more than Mayuka, well he had come on in the opening two games before he left so I think Adkins did have some faith in him do a job, so I think he would have, would he have nicked a goal somewhere, I think he would have done that too. The inference is that mayuka is one for the future, if that was the case then why did we ship out experienced players in Lee and Sharp to make way for him, there has been no vitriol aimed at mayuka, I don't blame him personally he is an experienced international with Zambia, he is 22 years old, most players are playing at the level they are capable of at 22, by that age you are usually approaching peak fitness and getting better with experience, look at the players we had at 22 last time we were in the premier, at £3.5 million you should be buying the finished article or almost

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