Wilfred Sharp (8 April 1907 – June 1981) was a Scottish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played for

Clydebank Clydebank ( gd, Bruach Chluaidh) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Mil ...

Airdrieonians Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

and

Bradford Park Avenue Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in , at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The name derived from their former hom ...

. Sharp was a

right half A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

whose career lasted from 1925 to 1936, he only made 65 appearances in the English League but in that time he won a

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

winners medal while with Sheffield Wednesday in 1935.

Playing career

Early days

Sharp was born in

Bathgate Bathgate ( sco, Bathket or , gd, Both Chèit) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, west of Livingston and adjacent to the M8 motorway. Nearby towns are Armadale, Blackburn, Linlithgow, Livingston, West Calder and Whitburn. Situated sout ...

West Lothian West Lothian ( sco, Wast Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Iar) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and was one of its shires of Scotland, historic counties. The county was called Linlithgowshire until 1925. The historic county was bounded geogra ...

. He played for

, Pumpherston Rangers and

Kirkintilloch Rob Roy Kirkintilloch Rob Roy Football Club are a Scottish football club based in the town of Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire. Nicknamed ''The Rabs'' or ''The Roy'', they were formed in 1878. They wear red and black strips and currently compete in t ...

Kirkintilloch Rob Roy F.C.
Confirms he played for Kirkintilloch Rob Roy. before signing as a professional for

in 1925, aged 18. He stayed at

Clydeholm Clydeholm was a football and greyhound racing stadium in Clydebank, Scotland. It was the home ground of the first Clydebank F.C. to play in the Scottish Football League. History Clydebank F.C. was founded in 1914, and acquired a ten-year l ...

for four years before signing in 1929 for

. Sharp stayed with Airdrieonians for five years although he did have a short spell as a professional at Tunbridge Wells Rangers in 1932. In August 1934 he was spotted by

manager Billy Walker and signed for The ''Owls'' for a fee of £750 on 11 August.

Sheffield Wednesday

Walker signed Sharp as a possible replacement for Wednesday's long-serving half back

Alf Strange Alfred Henry Strange (2 April 1900 – 3 October 1978) was an English footballer who played most of his career as a half back with Sheffield Wednesday. He won 20 caps for England, including three as captain. He began his career at Portsmouth, ...

who at 34 years old was in the twilight of his career. Even without Strange in the team, there was strong competition for the half back positions with

Horace Burrows Horace Burrows (11 March 1910 – 22 March 1969) was a professional footballer who played for Mansfield Town and Sheffield Wednesday. Burrows was a left half whose league career lasted from 1932 to 1939, his career was curtailed by the outbreak ...

and Gavin Malloch keeping Sharp out of the team for the early months of the 1934–35 season. However, an injury to Malloch on 1 December 1934 in a home draw with

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

led to Sharp making his debut the following Saturday in a 1–0 victory at

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

. Sharp showed good form and kept Malloch out of the side for the rest of the season as Wednesday went on a fine run of results, eventually finishing third in

Division One The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

and winning the

1935 FA Cup Final The 1935 FA Cup Final was contested by Sheffield Wednesday and West Bromwich Albion at Wembley. Sheffield Wednesday won 4–2, with goals scored by Jack Palethorpe, Mark Hooper and Ellis Rimmer (2). Wally Boyes and Teddy Sandford scored West B ...

. The following season saw the team struggle to avoid relegation, Sharp (who was not involved in the

1935 FA Charity Shield The 1935 FA Charity Shield was the 22nd FA Charity Shield, a football match between the winners of the previous season's First Division and FA Cup competitions. The match was contested by league champions Arsenal and FA Cup winners Sheffield W ...

) played 24 matches and eventually asked for a transfer as his wife could not settle in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

. In his two years at Wednesday, Sharp played 48 league games and 10 FA Cup games, scoring two goals.Since 1888.
Gives career statistics.
Sheffield Wednesday Archive

Bradford Park Avenue

The hoped-for switch back to Scottish football did not materialise, and Sharp signed for

in May 1936, playing 17 league games in his single season with them before moving to non league Burton Town in August 1937.''"The Wednesday Boys"'', Jason Dickinson & John Brodie, Page 264 Gives biographical information.''"The Men Who Made Sheffield Wednesday Football Club"'', Tony Matthews, Gives details of Sheffield Wednesday career. Sharp retired from football before the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

; he died in June 1981, aged 74 in

Sefton, Merseyside Sefton is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. Located to the south west of Maghull and to the north east of Great Crosby, it is on the flood plain of the River Alt. T ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharp, Wilf Kirkintilloch Rob Roy F.C. players Clydebank F.C. (1914) players Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Scottish footballers Association football wing halves 1907 births 1981 deaths English Football League players Scottish Football League players Scottish Junior Football Association players People from Bathgate Tunbridge Wells F.C. players Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C. players Burton Town F.C. players Bathgate F.C. players Footballers from West Lothian FA Cup Final players