Viva Video CXXXI

So, if the reports and rumours are to be believed then yesterday Doncaster Rovers turned down an offer approaching £3million for Billy Sharp. To recap; Doncaster Rovers… turned down… about £3million. It’s very easy to say that you’re not selling a player, particularly when it’s arguably your most important asset, but it is another to not have the £ signs flashing in your eyeballs when you’re offered three times what you paid for your club’s most expensive ever player.

The question from the outside is likely to be how can Rovers afford to turn down such an offer, and personally I would suggest that on a pure financial footing we cannot. However, in an equal measure, last season has taught us that an out-and-out goalscorer can be the difference between relegation candidates and play-off hopefuls, and to that extent Doncaster can not afford to sell. Finding a forward capable of replicating Sharp’s goals tally for Rovers at this level would be no easy task, even with the windfall from his sale at your disposal. Add the need to get folk in the ground for the new season and overall Rovers simply cannot afford to sell their increasingly iconic number 10, at any price.

After all, even having missed several months of last season Sharp still found time to notch sixteen goals, all of which you can view here – not bad for a fat lad from Sheffield.