Career
He is a defender most commonly deployed at centre-back. Born in Warrington, Sharps is a tall central defender who signed for Tranmere Rovers after serving as a trainee and soon established himself as a first team regular making almost 200 appearances. Sharps joined Rotherham United on a two-year deal during the summer of 2006.
Following the 2007-2008 season, he signed a new two-year contract with Rotherham.
Despite going through three points deductions, Ian has remained loyal to The Millers and has established himself as one of Rotherham"s most consistent performers. On 14 June 2010, Sharps signed for Shrewsbury Town, and was named as club captain.
Over a period of 2 seasons, he helped guide Shrewsbury to promotion from League Two in the 2011-2012 season. However, despite the accolade, he was to move on, and return to his former club
Sharps re-joined Rotherham United on 22 May 2012, there was interest from Tranmere Rovers but Sharps opted for the Millers and the lure of the New York Stadium, and he was appointed the captain.
On 18 January 2013, Sharps was loaned out to Burton Albion, before joining them permanently at the end of the season. Although he was a regular player for Burton at first, he fell out of favour after the departure of manager Gary Rowett to Birmingham City, and Sharps joined AFC Telford United on loan in February 2015 for the rest of the season. At the end of the season, it was announced that he would be leaving Burton at the end of his contract, and signing permanently for Telford United on a one-year deal at that point.