Wrexham have fired back at Sheffield United ’s Billy Sharp after he accused the National League side of being “disrespectful” ahead of their FA Cup fourth round replay at Bramall Lane.
It took the Blades over 180 minutes to secure their place in the fifth round of the competition after being held in Wrexham, before injury time strikes from Sharp and Sander Berge earned a 3-1 win in the replay. The striker did not mince his words in his post-match interview having accused the visitors of disrespect before taking aim at a few opposition players.
Wrexham have now issued their response. Boss Phil Parkinson was left particularly unhappy with Sharp’s actions come the final whistle.
“I was a bit disappointed with Billy, with some of the things he was shouting down the tunnel,” he said. “He’s a fantastic player but I thought he was disrespectful after the game.
“The way their players celebrated was a mark of how tough we made it for them. My message to Billy is: you’re better than that. My players are humble people and they’re a credit to the football club.”
Meanwhile, defender Ben Tozer was also left enraged with Sharp and Sheffield United He accused the Blades of a “lack of humility” and suggested that the veteran forward had “fabricated” his claims.
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“I feel like a bit of a dampener has been put on the game with the way they’ve acted in the tunnel. They showed a real lack of humility,” he said.
“But that’s the way they want to be and I feel like if we won that game we would’ve shown a lot more humility and respect. They should show more respect to us. They were telling us to ‘shove it on the documentary’.
“I feel like he’s [Sharp] fabricated stuff in his head to make that acceptable for himself if I’m honest. I said to him face-to-face, ‘show a bit more humility’. We’ve congratulated them on the win, we haven’t sulked, we’ve walked down the tunnel as normal and it’s just a shame that that’s the way it’s ended.”
“Not at all, not from our part,” he replied when asked if his side had been disrespectful. “Apparently they were tweeting Tottenham tickets before this game was played.
“And you had people like Oli McBurnie saying stuff in the press; I don’t think any of our lads said anything disrespectful. We certainly approached the game properly. If that’s the way they want to be that’s the way they want to be.”
Following their victory over Wrexham, Sheffield Utd now tee-up a fifth round clash with Premier League side Tottenham. Meanwhile, Wrexham have been forced to focus on their fight to earn a place in League Two. They currently sit second in the National League and three points behind league leaders Notts County.
