MARK Robins insists Coventry City have made out-of-contract midfielder Callum O’Hare a ‘really good offer’ to extend his stay with the Sky Blues.
O’Hare, whose contract expires at the end of the season, is yet to sign fresh terms with City with rivals and league leaders Leicester City reportedly one of the clubs interested in signing the midfielder.
However, ahead of Coventry’s FA Cup tie at Sheffield Wednesday this weekend, Robins insists O’Hare remains focused on giving his all for the club on the pitch.
Robins said: “He’s been made a really good offer and then it’s down to him his family’s representatives to decide what his future holds, but I don’t think any pressure shouldn’t be put on him.
“He should just be allowed to get on with his work and what he’s doing is, he’s knuckling down, and he’s focused on what he’s got to do and trying to help us to where we want to get to this season.”
Sky Blues boss Robins also provided an update on midfielder Kasey Palmer after he was the target of an apparent racist gesture in last weekend’s league meeting with the Owls.
To read about whether Palmer will feature against Wednesday click HERE
Robins added: “I can’t really speak for him. Unless you’ve experienced racism, I don’t think you can honestly understand how it feels.
“There’s no place for any type of racism in society, let alone on a football pitch or in a stadium. Kasey has been okay, but that’s not to say that it hasn’t impacted him because I think it has.
“It has to stop. The perpetrator should be dealt with and made an example of, in my opinion, and it shouldn’t happen.
“I’ve seen a video that’s been brought out by the Sheffield Wednesday players, just highlighting that it’s unacceptable and really, people should just grow up.
“We’re human beings at the end of the day and we should try and get on with each other as best we can.
“This is a football match, it’s adversarial, by nature, you want to win, so you’ve got all of that going on, which is fine, that’s what we expect, but support your team.
“Support the individuals and if you want to give stick to the opponents then fine but don’t be stupid. Let’s get on with it and try and get on better with each other and I think that’s the message.
“I’ve not experienced anything like this before, as the manager, but seemingly this goes on all the time, and it just needs to stop.”
City are aiming to reach the fifth round of the FA Cup for the first time since the 2017/18 season and have already completed a league double over fourth round opponents Wednesday.
And after Ben Sheaf’s brace secured a 2-1 win at Hillsborough in the league last weekend, Robins hopes his side can continue their FA Cup journey.
He said: “It’s better to be in the competition than out of it, that’s for sure.
“We’ve got a chance of going through and going into the fifth round, so that’s the aim and we’ve got to try and get as far as we can in this competition this year.
“The owner has been clear in terms of what he would like, and we’ve got to try and we’ve got to try and do that and deliver that not just for the owner but for the supporters because there’s over 4,000 travelling up there and they’re going to be right behind the team and supporting us as they always have done.
“We’ve got to try and get through and put in a really good performance for them, because they’re absolutely brilliant and they were brilliant last week.”
Coventry travel to Sheffield Wednesday TONIGHT (Friday, January 26) with kick-off at 7.45pm at Hillsborough.
