Billy Sharp to meet up with Saints to discuss future (according to Echo, but hardly a surprise). Sending him on loan was the weirdest decision last season. Did he fall out with Adkins? Did the books have to be balanced? He must be pretty pissed off with us admittedly, but I'd like to see him back. How could we not have needed a goal poacher last season! I would have thought a return was unlikely, but then who would have expected the resurrection of Puncheon.
Didn't he tweet that he was going to play for Accrington Stanley the other day. Here is a link to it. http://www.itv.com/news/granada/update/2013-05-27/sharp-tweets-hes-off-to-accrington-stanley/
I would think that he will return to us for pre season and will have an opportunity to show Poch what he can do. If he does well then there is no reason why he wouldn't get a chance here next season, like as you say about Puncheon. Tadnari Lee is also due back for pre season and will be hopiing to do the same. Its a bit of a difficult situation really, as we have a number of forward players that I am sure Poch wants to look at before loaning/selling those that don't fit into his plans but at the same time we cant sit around and make a move in the transfer window at the last minute as the better players will have been snapped up. I still thin Billy deserves a chance with us as his goal return for us has been very good.
I do feel for Billy as his loan was a shock to him. He said at the time he wanted answers. Not that feeling sorry for someone should affect a decision, but hope he is given a fair chance to impress MP. It is possible that he is completely off Nicola's radar.
We've got one very slow striker already thanks, we don't need another. We need pace as the old cliché goes.
I honestly don't think it was Adkins decision to let him go ... and that it was a financial decision from Cortese. No facts here, just a hunch. It was a shame to see him go, as I felt he would have contributed for us last season, especially more so than Mayuka.
I think most fans felt last season that he's earned the right to try and prove himself in the PL, and I'm sure he did too. But he's a professional, if he gets a 2nd chance it's up to him to take it. He hasn't been exactly prolific for Forest though. 10 goals in 39 appearances.
Think you are probably right about it being a financial decision by Cortese. The fact that we had to get a loan set against our Sky money shows a cash flow problem...nothing major, just the need to invest when promoted to the PL before we actually had any PL money. Times have changed...may still not be a place for Sharp, though that may change if Mauricio feels he can use him. Using any player that we already have frees up more money for other positions. NC may prefer to sell Billy....which may also suit the player.
When we get the chance to double our money (1m loan fee, 2.5m deal to make permanent) on someone who would almost certainly be a bit-part player, why would we turn that down? It's not like he tore up the league for Forest, is it?
Bit hard to score consistently when he was regularly in and out the side. The time he scored consistently was funnily enough his best run as a starter in the side.
I just don't think, as good as he was for us in the championship, he's premier league quality, and playing with only one striker would have meant he would have been lucky to even get on the bench. It may have appeared an odd decision at the time but talk of politics and conspiracy theories are rather excessive.
Think he maybe deserves a chance. Rickie, Holt and Le Fondre have proved it's not all about pace in the PL.
Unlike Adkins, Mauricio seems to favour two strikers. Billy would play more as an impact sub though. Pretty sure he will be sold....probably better for Sharp anyway. It is a shame as a team like Saints must have seemed his best chance of the big time (as it probably was for Adkins).
By the sounds of it the manner of departure wasn't very nice but the departure itself I have no problem with. He would have started very few, if any, games and wouldn't be likely to start many for us now. Having said that, there were times our bench had few attacking options so there would have been a role for him there.
He was obviously brought in to make sure of our promotion, but once we were up we signed J-Rod, so Billy was surplus to requirements. Harsh as that might be, it's how football has always worked. If he does play for us again, I'll be very surprised.
Kind of. Rodriguez plays a very mobile role of out wide drifting in, which Sharp certainly wouldn't be suited to, and he also definitely wouldn't displace Lambert up front.
