Billy Sharp savaged Wrexham’s players and told them to ‘shove that on your documentary’ in a tunnel spat that followed Sheffield United‘s 3-1 win in the FA Cup on Tuesday night.
The National League side were level heading into stoppage time when Sharp, and then Sander Berge, sealed progress for the Championship high-flyers, setting up a fifth round match against Tottenham.
But Sharp was furious with ‘disrespect’ from Wrexham and he made sure their Disney+ cameras, filming for the second season of ‘Welcome to Wrexham’, heard exactly what he thought in the tunnel afterwards as both sets of players clashed.
‘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,’ Wrexham captain Ben Tozer 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.’
Billy Sharp told Wrexham players to ‘shove that on your documentary’ in a furious tunnel row
Wrexham’s club captain Ben Tozer (right) confronted Sharp to tell him he lacked class
Sharp was angry at a tweet by Wrexham which tagged Tottenham prior to Tuesday’s replay
Sharp accused some of Wrexham’s players of taunting in the lead-up to the game and that made victory even sweeter for him.
He also took issue with a tweet posted by Wrexham’s official Twitter account after the fifth-round draw was made which tagged Tottenham and used the two eyes emoji.
‘I thought there was a lack of respect towards us,’ Sharp fumed to Sheffield United TV.
‘Whoever runs their Twitter account wants to be careful because they thought they were playing Spurs before they beat us.
‘There were a few comments from their players which I won’t say, they know who they are. I’m glad we’ve beaten them tonight.’
Wrexham’s tweet referred to a celebration by Paul Mullin, Elliot Lee and Ollie Palmer back in November where they mimicked the photo-gesture of Tottenham’s Son Heung-min.
The Tottenham star was labelled as a ‘fan’ of the Welsh club after watching season one of the Disney+ documentary – but Sharp remained totally bemused by the Blades being ‘overlooked’ in his eyes.
Tozer has fired back at Sharp’s claims and confronted him ‘face to face’ to tell him he was in the wrong in the tunnel
‘They should show more respect to us. They were telling us to “shove it on the documentary”,’ Tozer added.
‘I feel like he’s [Sharp] fabricated stuff in his head to make that acceptable for himself if I’m honest.
Sharp looked to goad the away fans at the end as he gestured tears towards the 4,700 fans
‘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.’
He added: ‘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.’
Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson also confronted Sharp as he headed towards the 4,700 away fans to goad them with a gesture of tears.
‘I am a bit disappointed with Billy to be honest with you, some of the things he was shouting down the tunnel at the end,’ the Wrexham manager said.
‘Well done Bill, you’re a fantastic player but I thought he was disrespectful after the game. I think the way the players celebrated and the crowd and staff was just a mark of how tough we made for them and they were relieved to get through.
‘The message to Billy is: You’re better than that, you really are. My players are humble people and a great credit to the football club.’
Sheffield United took the lead early in the second half through Bosnian defender Anel Ahmedhodžić, but were pegged back when Mullin dispatched a penalty to make it 1-1.
From there the fifth-division side looked to take control of the game and had the chance to edge ahead when Mullin won a second penalty, only to see his strike saved.
Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson felt Sharp disrespected his club with his post-match antics
Wrexham striker Paul Mullin (middle) and Parkinson (right) confronted Sharp (left) on the pitch
Sheffield United, second in the Championship and on course for a return to the Premier League this season, hauled themselves over the line in stoppage time with two late goals and Sharp was thrilled to have put ‘disrespectful’ Wrexham to bed.
‘I think they’ve been disrespectful,’ he told ITV Sport. ‘A few things before the game, thinking they were already through; I’m glad we’ve beaten them.
‘They’re doing well in their league, we’re doing well in ours. I wasn’t happy with a few of their players tonight but that’s it now, we’ve got one over on them.
‘I wasn’t happy with the way they’ve been as a club before the game, eyeing up Spurs. They’ve not even beaten us.
‘We’re an honest set of lads and we want to go as far as we can in this competition. If we get beaten in the next round, so be it. We’ll give it a right go.
‘I think they thought we were just going to roll over when we get back in it. I think the referee was helping them all night as well, I don’t think he gave me one foul all night.
‘It’s one of those things, I probably lost my head a little bit but I’ve got a smile on my face because we’ve got through to the next round of the Cup and the boys deserve it.’