Doncaster striker Sharp targets sixth promotion

Last season was the first since the 2003-04 campaign that Billy Sharp did not score a goal in English league football

Doncaster Rovers striker Billy Sharp has said he has returned to the club to win promotion from League Two.

The 38-year-old signed a one-year deal earlier this week to rejoin the club over 12 years after his first spell.

Grant McCann's side lost to Crewe Alexandra in the play-offs last season after soaring into the top seven off the back of 10 successive wins at the end of the campaign.

"The manager has not hid away from it, he wants to win promotion and he wants to win the league," Sharp told BBC Radio Sheffield.

"I've been lucky to get five promotions in my career but not one from League Two so that would complete the set."

He added: "It's a great feeling when you are getting wins week in and week out and having that target on your back and people trying to knock you off."

"It's been a long time since I played in League Two, I was 17 years old, but I'm not ashamed to say I'll roll my sleeves up and get stuck into it."

Sharp made his debut in the Football League in November 2004 and is on 249 English league goals.

He scored his first goal in professional football during a loan spell in the fourth tier with Rushden & Diamonds from Sheffield United in 2005.

Since the start of the 2004-05 season nobody has scored more league goals in English football than him.

Prolific Sharp keen to get back to scoring

Sharp's collection of promotions began at Scunthorpe United when they topped League One in 2007. He followed that up five years later by helping Southampton win automatic promotion to the Premiership in 2012.

The veteran striker later won three promotions with boyhood club Sheffield United in an eight-year spell, his third at Bramall Lane, before leaving at the end of the 2022-23 campaign.

A brief stint in MLS with Los Angeles Galaxy followed before he ended last season with Hull City in the Championship.

He failed to score in 11 league appearances for the Tigers as they finished three points off a play-off place and admitted he was "hurt" not to have opened his account for the club.

"I was gutted I didn't get a goal for the fans because it's the first time I've not scored a goal for a club I've been at and it was the first time I've not scored a goal in English football in 20 years and that hurt me," he said.

"That's the one big disappointment of my time at Hull that I didn't get that goal for the fans. It was kick in the teeth but it wasn't to be.

"You can't beat scoring, it's the best feeling in football. I started when I was 17 and that feeling back then was one I wanted every week and it'll never go away. I want to get back to it."

Billy Sharp captained Sheffield United to three promotions and scored 109 goals in 282 league appearances in his third spell at Bramall Lane

'Doncaster has special place in my heart'

Sharp scored 40 goals in 82 league appearances in his first spell with Doncaster, when they were in the Championship.

He was with Rovers when his two-day-old son Luey died in November 2011 and said the club means a lot to him.

"Everyone knows Doncaster has a special place in my heart and they helped me through some incredibly tough times personally and I've had some good times there on the pitch," he said.

"I enjoyed my time and it gave me the stepping stone to get my move to Southampton and play in the Premier League. I owe Doncaster for that.

"I've got 12 months now to personally get a promotion and collectively to help a club that was there for me in tough times."

He has signed a one-year deal with McCann's side but is not thinking about hanging his boots up at the end of the season.

"I'm not young anymore but I still feel I can play 40 games in a season," he added.

"I want to be able to play more, which obviously I will have to earn the right to do, and I want to score more.

"I've got a few personal targets but I just want to enjoy my football and when the day comes I'm not I'll retire.

"I've got one, maybe two or three if I'm lucky, years left playing. I feel really strong and fit and if I can get off the mark with that first goal then I'm sure I'll be a brilliant addition to the group and hopefully earn another contract after helping Doncaster get promoted.

"I've got a few days left in the garden and then the hard work starts."