Sheffield United: Bramall Lane favourite put to bed football cliche in 2021/22 - View | OneFootball

Billy Sharp was in impressive form for the Blades during the 21/22 campaign, despite being in his mid-30's

Nowadays, in football, there is a cliché that players in their mid-30's are no longer good enough to be playing regularly at the top level, and that they're all on the decline, but Billy Sharp proved that certainly wasn't the case during the 2021/22 season.

Sharp, who turned 36 during the 2021/22 campaign, managed to enjoy a successful season in the Championship at Bramall Lane, scoring goals on a regular basis and showing that age was just a number.

While the cliché can be true at times that footballers in their mid-30's aren't able to perform like they used to, Sharp made a mockery of it as he helped fire his side to the Championship play-offs, and showed that if managed correctly, players in that age bracker can still be very useful assets.

The Sheffield born-striker is a Blades legend, and his consistency coupled with longevity is a key reason for that.

Billy Sharp put football cliché to bed during the 2021/22 season

Sharp was 35 when the 2021/22 season got underway, and many outsiders would have looked at him as being on the decline and not much of a goalscoring threat, having scored just three Premier League goals the campaign prior - but the veteran striker certainly proved people wrong.

The Blades suffered a mediocre start to the season under Slaviša Jokanović, and it looked like they were in for a really tough season after being relegated from the Premier League the previous season, but Sharp helped the club find some form, particularly after Paul Heckingbottom was appointed as the Serbian's successor in November 2021.

Despite turning 36 during the season, Sharp was the club's main source of goals throughout the season, despite having the likes of Oli McBurnie, Rhian Brewster, David McGoldrick and the impressive Morgan Gibbs-White on their books throughout the campaign.

It speaks volumes that Sharp made 39 Championship appearances, 30 of them being starts, which is no mean feat considering his age, the intensity of the division and the club's strength in depth at striker.

In total, Sharp found the back of the net 15 times - 14 of those coming in the Championship - and he also registered seven assists, taking his tally to 21 goal involvements.

It was incredibly rare to see a 36-year-old registering those sort of numbers, and this sort of form certainly helped Sharp put to bed the cliché that older players aren't as capable as they used to be.

Sharp's 14 league goals ensured he was the 11th top scorer in the division, while it also meant he was his club's top scorer for the campaign.

The striker missed the end of the season and play-offs due to an injury, and had he been fit for those matches, you certainly would have backed the Blades to win promotion - unfortunately, the disgraceful scenes that marred the second leg of the semi-finals against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground, where Sharp was assaulted by a Forest-supporting pitch invader, brought his campaign to an end in the worst possible way.

Billy Sharp is still going strong as he approaches the age of 39

Sharp will turn 39 this season, but he's still scoring goals on a regular basis for Doncaster Rovers in League Two.

It's quite some achievement which perhaps hasn't had the attention that it should have, and there's no reason why the striker can't keep playing into his early-40's if he continues playing how he has done.

The 38-year-old is a real EFL legend, and he's a prolific goalscorer, even impressing in the MLS for LA Galaxy last season, averaging a goal every other game.

It's not unfair to suggest that Sharp could be playing at a higher level than League Two, despite his age, and with him up front, you'd tip Doncaster to enjoy a successful season.

At this early stage of the season, Sharp has already found the back of the net on four occasions, and Sheffield United supporters certainly won't be surprised to see their former striker scoring on a regular basis, despite his age.