Playing on after 40: ‘What life do I want to live for the next 50 years?’

Katie Whyatt Mon, 23 February 2026 at 5:16 am UTC·13 min read For a while, Billy Sharp’s pinned post on X was his riposte to the opposition supporter who sent him an AI-generated image of the striker in his Doncaster Rovers kit, hobbling about the pitch on a walking frame. His most recent post is a clip from the press conference that fell in the week of his latest birthday, at which his manager said, “Welcome to my club — the forties.”Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Such is life when you’re still playing professional football at the age of 40: still scoring, still training every day, still relishing the needle with rival fans, still living with so much energy that, Sharp tells The...