Perhaps the biggest puzzle at St Mary's over the past year has been just why Billy Sharp has been shunted into the sidings so drastically.

A year ago as Saints prepared to start the Premier League campaign at Champions Manchester City, it seemed that Billy Sharp would play a vital part in the forthcoming campaign, in the previous season his arrival from Doncaster Rovers had seen him score some vital goals to push the faltering Saints over the finishing line and back into the top flight, on top of that he had had a good pre season scoring plenty of goals at the same time, whilst most Saints fans would have ceded that he would be an unlikely starter in a side that was going to switch to a lone striker up front, most would concur that coming off the bench late on Billy Sharp would have had the knack for a goal or two.

But then before he had had a chance to prove himself in the top flight came the arrival of Mayuka for a not insubstancial £3.5 million or so and Sharp was left in no doubt that he would not be allowed to stay at the club to fight for his place and within hours of Mayuka's arrival he was shipped off to Nottingham Forest on loan. It was almost as if whoever was responsible for signing Mayuka, and it wasn't Nigel Adkins, did not want Sharp perhaps doing well and blocking the Zambian's path to the team.

To say Mayuka has not been a success is an understatement, he started one game and his only other appearances were small cameo's off the bench usually to run the clock down, some would say he is one for the future and this might be his season, but both Nigel Adkins and Mauriccio Pochettino could see no worth in playing him, indeed between 5th November and his first appearance under Pochettino he played no football for Saints apart from that strange start against Sunderland in mid December when he was taken off shortly after the break.

So given that his replacement is clearly not up to the job and that we had no other forward able to step off the bench to come on and try and nick a goal and a point here and there, why is Billy Sharp and for that matter Tadanari Lee suddenly so surplus to requirements so much so that they are not even taken on the pre season tour.

Usually under a new manager there is an armistice of players out of favour and the new boss will give them them the chance to perhaps show that they are worth a place, this doesn't seem the case with Sharp this summer, Pochettino will know little of Sharp, surely it wouldn't have hurt to take him along pre season and give him a run out, given we are using 20 plus players in every game, it would hardly have upset the rythym of the side, why would Pochettino not want to do that ? I cant think of a reason other than Sharp is being blocked from above.

In the press this week the players agent is talking of the fact that there are Premier clubs after his client and that is why they have turned down loan moves to the Championship, I can believe this, natural goal scorers are at a premium and Sharp is a useful commodity, if Gary Hooper is worth £5 million, I don't see him being any better than Sharp, its a squad game now and last season when we had spare places in our squad, a man who could have scored the odd goal or two was out on loan whilst his replacement sat on the bench but didn't get off it for perhaps the record number of times for a Saints outfield player.

I don't know why Sharp should now be so shunned by the football club who would probably not be in the position they are now without him, of course he was well paid for what he did, but it should be a little more than that, Im sure Sharp is professional and he understands the nature of the game and that he is a commodity to be bought and sold, his big chance in the Premier League arrived, what will surely rankle with him is the fact that he wasn't given the chance to show he could play a part for Saints, what will rankle more, is that he was replaced by someone who to be frank was nowhere near Premier standard, however its dressed up and who contributed nothing to the season.

Football is a harsh game, Billy harp will know that, but the way he has been treated makes no sense, the way he was shunted out on loan last season was almost the club cutting off its nose to spite its face, they chased big name strikers and ended up only landing Mayuka, perhaps they felt that it was making a statement paying so much for the player and they didn't want Sharp getting in the way and proving them wrong, in the end it wasn't Sharp doing that it was Mayuka himself who at the moment stands like Vegard Forren as a folly.

This summer we haven't as yet landed any of the big name stikers that we have been linked with, perhaps we will perhaps we wont, but if its the latter then surely Billy Sharp could have a role to play, in the Premier the line between success and failure is very thin and in hindsight can often be attributed to a goal snatched here or there, I know who I would rather have on the bench to try and snatch it !

Photo: Action Images

sfc1971 added 10:40 - Aug 6 Seems odd how a player who has a pretty good scoring ave seems to have moved around a fair bit during his career. I don`t know him personally and he seems a nice enough fella during interviews etc but maybe his attitude in training or fitness levels are not up to Prem levels?
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LeicesterSaint added 10:45 - Aug 6 Billy has been treated terribly by the club in my view - his goals in our Championship promotion season got us to the Prem when we looked to be faltering a bit and he was then not given the chance to prove himself in the Prem. Billy is a natural goal poacher who seems to have that knack of being in the right place at the right time just like Lineker used to. I think he deserves his place on our bench this season to at least have the chance to see if he can cut it in the big league - he could well score us some very important late goals as a last 15/20 minute sub. Give him a chance MoPo!

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Saintpaul120 added 10:57 - Aug 6 There has to be a reason why he can't get into the Saints squad and I don't think it's on ability. He certainly has that. Perhaps it is his attitude as mentioned above? I don't know him either but he can be outspoken as his twitter account will testify. As for Mayuka from what I've seen Nick you are correct in your assessments of him. He seems to have pace but not a lot else and as you say, may be one for the future but we have Ryan Seagar and Jake Sinclair coming through who could be every bit as good when they are his age. It's a strange one that's for sure.

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Iceberg added 11:04 - Aug 6 I'm a natural goal poacher in Sunday Pub football. Scored a blinder the other day. But I could not step up to County level. Why do people assume that just because someone finds the net in league 1 and the championship he would automatically be in the goals in the Premier League? Makes no sense. Also, one player does not make the goal: his boot might be the last to touch it before it hits the back of the net but the set up of the whole team is also a factor. Plenty of examples in the Prem where world-class strikers sink a ton of goals at one club, then move to another and look like they have no idea where the posts are. The name Torres rings a bell. Extrapolating Sharp's (or anyone's) record in the lower divisions with a predominantly 4-4-2 system into the Premier League with a very-not 4-4-2 system is not a given. There is no conspiracy here. Just that successive managers have decided he doesn't fit. Nor does Tadanari. Big deal. Oh, and he has not been 'badly treated' by the club. He is a professional footballer who has to earn his right to cross the white line the same as anyone. While he is under contract he will still pick up a handsome wage packet regardless. That is precisely all that the club 'owes' him. Nothing more, nothing less.

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legod7 added 11:15 - Aug 6 Billy Sharp has not asked for a transfer and cannot be sold or loaned as he is on contract. Remember last season. Nobody came in for Ryan Dickson when he was not part of NA plans. In the end he was given a squad number just in case. This could happen to Billy Sharp
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Iceberg added 11:25 - Aug 6 leogd7 - what do you mean he cannot be sold or loaned as he is on contract? Of course he can. Hardly any players see out the full time on their contracts. What you smoking?
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LeicesterSaint added 11:28 - Aug 6 Iceberg - that is just it though - he has not been given a chance to prove if he can or cant score in the Premier league - he has proved he can in the Championship and League 1 with a great scoring record but how will he progress if not given the chance in the Prem? Its good english players not getting a chance because of foreign players who are no better that is hurting Engalnd at a national level too. He has been harshly treated in my view - he earned his shot at the prem with a great finish to the Championship season with us and a great pre-season and was then dropped - its not the money that makes me feel he is harshly treated as we all know footballers are far too richly rewarded in that area!

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slynch added 11:33 - Aug 6 Sharp doesn't get in the squad because successive managers don't think he is good enough. The management have allowed other players in a similar position to leave in an honest, business-like fashion and I'm sure the same path is open to Billy. He, however, has chosen to stay and try and impress the managers via the development squad and have a chance at Premier League football. That's his choice and the club are supporting him in that path. http://www.football365.com/barnsley/8856761/-?

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LostBoys added 11:39 - Aug 6 I think he has been poorly treated. Whether he is good enough for the Prem is debateable but SFC have not given him any chance to prove it or otherwise. A strange position. I think he will move on and perhaps a move to another Prem Club may be the reason we are in the current impasse.
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Iceberg added 11:49 - Aug 6 LeicesterSaint - come on, don't keep on pulling out the 'English players must be given a chance' card! In case it slipped your attention last season we brought a young English Burnley lad into the Premier League, a young English Palace lad into the Premier League, a young Hampshire lad into the Premier League, a young Kingston-upon-Thames lad into the Premier League and our top scorer last season was an old Scouse lad we puled up from league 1 !! This season we have handed full contract to Chambers and Isgrove too, and Chambers particularly looks like he could be ready to step up to the first team on a regular basis. So we don't need to beat our selves up at Southampton because Sharp is English and we aren't giving him the chance to play in the Prem. We are well covered on that one.

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GoHomeFrancisBenali added 12:34 - Aug 6 Perhaps most Saints fans are so boneless after Nigel Adkins sacking (support him one minute - ie "There's only one Nigel Adkins", and then throw him away the next with comments of the sort, "Oh his tactics were rubbish anyway") that they won't have minded to see Billy Sharp ignored and sent off to Nottingham Forest last season, without a well deserved chance at the big time. Having said that, though Billy deserved a chance last season, it's clear that St Mary's have no plans for him to be featuring much if at all this season, so it would be a bit of a waste of time putting him into the pre-season training. They want the mood, however harsh that is, to be happy and forward thinking, and not be be altered with players around who are wondering whether they'll be staying or going.

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Iceberg added 13:29 - Aug 6 GoHomeFrancisBenali - indeed. But again, I stress that NO PLAYER deserves to remain in the squad by pure virtue of the work they do the season previous. That is the sort of bollox sentiment which clogs up a squad roster with ageing journeymen. It is not rocket science. Sharp was hired as a professional footballer to play Association Football for Southampton Football Club. He did so. He was paid. Now the manager of the club has decided that he does not need Sharp's services any further. He is informed of such. He is still under contract so he still gets paid. We can debate whether the manager has made the correct decision to leave him out of the plans but we should not ascribe some false notion of 'he earned the right to play'. He didn't. He did a job. If he was a semi-pro in the lower leagues who had used all his paltry match fee on petrol to get to training every week then maybe we could be sentimental. Not in professional mega-wage football we can't.

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brady100 added 13:45 - Aug 6 Personally I think saints should be focusing their attention toward bringing in another striker of premier quality. However with limited back up as it stands, we could do far worse for the time being in putting Sharp on the bench and giving him a chance. Undoubtedly Mayuka had little to no impact last season and it could be argued his performances in training must have been unimpressive to say the least. However ineffective in a VERY poor team performance against Sunderland, I don’t think Nick can be that judgemental as we have just not seen him play enough for whatever reason. ANOTHER CF IS ESSENTIAL!!!!!

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legod7 added 13:54 - Aug 6 what do you mean he cannot be sold or loaned as he is on contract? Of course he can. Hardly any players see out the full time on their contracts. What you smoking? - Iceberg what are you smoking indeed ?. NO PLAYER CAN BE LOANED OR SOLD IF THEY DON'T WANT TO. AS I SAID HE IS ON CONTRACT FO ANOTHER 2 YEARS. SFC GAVE HIM THAT CONTRACT AND HAVE AS MUCH OBLIGATION AS THE PLAYER TO FULFIL THAT CONTRACT.

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LeicesterSaint added 14:19 - Aug 6 Iceberg - No doubting we are one of the best teams in the Prem - probably the country - for giving good young english talent a chance and bringing them on but in Sharp I see a good player who was pushed aside to make room for a more expensive and as I beleive pooper player in Mayuka. Saying that Mayuka was also not given much of a chance either and he could turn out to be a great player given time but he has been given more opertuninty than Sharp and in my view was less deserving. Great discussing this with you, really enjoying the debate! 11 days to go - cant wait now!! COYR!!!!

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Iceberg added 14:26 - Aug 6 legod - No shit sherlock. So given that he has not been given a squad number we can deduce that he is in no way going to play a part next season. He still has 2 years left on his deal so he is perfectly entitled to kick back, train with the reserves, clock-in and clock-out and get paid. But he, like all footballers would rather be playing. He is only 27 years old and is proven in the lower leagues. So why, we must ask, has he not left? Well, it can't conceivably be because Cortese and MoPo are spiteful people who get sadistic pleasure out of seeing him wallow as a highly-paid toy. They would sooner he was off the books and gone. That should be obvious. Also, NC has shown he is prepared to swallow a small loss (Forren) if the player is just balast. So it can't be that NC is putting too high a price on him. So the only other conclusion is that he is not able to move on at similar wages and that it almost certainly the case as now the championship is under financial fair-play rules. It is a little reported fact that wages in the championship are now severely restricted, but Sharp's contract was written at a time when we were splashing the cash. I would bet that he will be out on loan again to a championship club who will pick up some of his wages but that he is also just sitting back and cashing the cheques in the meantime because they are so much bigger at SFC than else where at the moment.

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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 15:27 - Aug 6 Sharp hasn't left yet because we haven't received a reasonable offer for him . The club are trying to sell him and don't want another season where he goes out on loan and we are still paying some of his wages. He'll leave this summer. A Championship club will sign him eventually. It might only happen later on in the window though when clubs realise Saints won't sell him on the cheap. On another note, Saints have only given 24 players a squad number so far. Of those 24 only 19 are aged 21 or over; you're allowed 25. We've got quite a small squad when you look at it. The only place we've got strength and depth is centre midfield. Injuries to Lambert and J-Rod would leave us very short as things stand. They must be looking to sign a couple more players, including a goal scoring striker!

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stmichael added 16:44 - Aug 6 Cant argue with that. Its not like he has a bad attitude he is a very popular guy in the dressing room. I would be very happy if he were on our bench at WBA . Probably a more natural goal scorer than JROD.
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richardmdcooper added 19:52 - Aug 6 How come no-one ever mentions Dean Hammond who is in the same boat as Sharp (and was a much bigger contributor to our success over the championship and league one campaigns)..Presumably because the feeling is Sharp can help us (which I agree with nick on) whereas Hammond has effectively been replaced by JWP, Cork etc.. I feel both Sharp and Hammond have been badly treated by the club despite what the cortese apologists (slynch, iceberg etc..) say - why not just release them like they did with de ridder so that they can move on?

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Iceberg added 23:00 - Aug 6 oh ffs. I am no 'apologist' for anyone. "why not just release him". Why the fek do you think? Think a club can just "release" a player? Sharp is on great wages and has a full 2 years on his deal. Cortese can't just waive a magic wand and "release" him unless the player agrees. Which clearly Sharp does not. And who would blame him? It is because Championship clubs are all under strict financial fair-play rules now and almost none could afford to pick him up at the same wages he is on with Saints. The most logical conclusion one can draw is that no champ club wants him at anything near the wages he is currently on so he will just sit tight and cash the Saints cheques or wait until a partial-wage loan deal can be done.

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DJI added 08:45 - Aug 7 In pre-season last year, Billy was by far our best striker, scoring more than the others put together! I think the issue is a personality clash and he is considered divisive in the dressing room around certain players. Just look back to the last few games of the CCC season to see he avoids congratulating one or two.
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brady100 added 10:43 - Aug 7 Sharps omission is nothing to do with personality, this is just guesswork and speculation. He's not in the side as he is not a fashionable 'big name' and in all honesty if we're all honest is not good enough if we want to be a top half premiership team. As for his record in pre season it means nothing. Lambert failed to score in pre season last year...
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darkangelv2 added 12:56 - Aug 7 Sharp couldn't hold down his position at Notts Forest ergo he's not good enough for a premier league club. End of.
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