James Sharp (born 2 January 1976) is an English professional football player, who played as a defender.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | James Sharp[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 2 January 1976 | ||
| Place of birth | Reading, England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||
| Position(s) | Defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Andover | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2000–2003 | Hartlepool United | 49 | (2) |
| 2003–2005 | Falkirk | 34 | (1) |
| 2005 | → Brechin City (loan) | 13 | (1) |
| 2005–2006 | Torquay United | 32 | (0) |
| 2006 | Shrewsbury Town | 0 | (0) |
| 2006–2007 | Rochdale | 12 | (1) |
| 2007–2008 | Airdrie United | 8 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 19:18, 7 April 2008 (UTC) | |||
Career
editSharp was a relative latecomer to the professional game, having signed his first contract at the age of 24, an event preceded by a spell at non-league Andover. He started his professional football career with Hartlepool United in 2000. After 60 appearances in three years with Hartlepool & a player of the year award, Sharp fell out of favour at Hartlepool and moved to Scottish club Falkirk on a free transfer in 2003.
After a year-and-a-half with the Bairns, Sharp was loaned out to Brechin City in February 2005 until the end of the season. In which time, Sharp helped Brechin to the Division 2 title along with picking up a winners medal for Falkirk in same season as Falkirk claimed the Division 1 title. Sharp made his return to England with a free transfer to Torquay United in August 2005. Playing in 32 league matches in the 2005-06 season, Sharp was named captain of the club, but was released at the season's end.
After spending pre-season training with the club, Sharp was signed by Shrewsbury Town on a one-month contract on 8 August 2006. However, on 24 August 2006, Sharp chose to terminate the contract to pursue other options.[2] He had played just 10 minutes for Shrewsbury — the final ten minutes of the League Cup first round match at Birmingham City, where Birmingham won via a late goal.[3]
Sharp was subsequently signed by Rochdale, debuting for them on 2 September 2006 in the 1–1 draw at home to Hereford United. His first goal for the club came against Shrewsbury, on 30 September, just a month after leaving them.
He was released by Rochdale at the end of the 2006-07 season and was signed by Scottish Second Division club Airdrie United.[4] After a spell of 6 months with Airdrie, Sharp was forced to retire from the professional game through an achilles injury.
References
edit- ^ "James Sharp". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
- ^ "Player Leaves". shrewsburytown.co.uk (requires registration). Archived from the original on 5 August 2012. Retrieved 31 August 2006.
- ^ "English League Cup - Round 1". soccerbase.com. Archived from the original on 1 October 2007. Retrieved 31 August 2006.
- ^ "Sharp joins up with Airdrie Utd". BBC Sport website. 27 June 2007.
