"A bit disrespectful" - Gus Hamer & Callum O'Hare predictions issued ahead of Coventry City reunion | OneFootball

The two former Sky Blues will return to face their old club for the first time since leaving to join Sheffield United.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Callum O'Hare and Gus Hamer will return to their old club on Saturday when Sheffield United travel south to face Coventry City at the CBS Arena.

The Sky Blues was who both players made their names at this level with. The Dutch midfielder was bought by Coventry in the summer of 2020 for £1.5 million from PEC Zwolle, shortly before the former Aston Villa creative was acquired on a permanent basis following his initial loan stint.

They then both moved to the Steel City to join the Blades; Hamer for £15 million in the summer of 2023, and O'Hare as a free agent in the following year after he chose to run down his contract, with the expectation that he would head to a top flight club.

Even though the destination was the same, the two players went about their departures very differently, and are now viewed in quite different lights by the City supporters.

Coventry City supporters expected to welcome Gus Hamer back but hostile O'Hare reaction predicted

Saturday marks the first time that both men have been back to visit their old club, as players, since they left.

The pair each made lasting impacts on City, but Ryan Murphy, Football League World's City fan pundit, is expecting Hamer and O'Hare to get very different receptions from the home crowd on Saturday.

Murphy expects the Dutchman to get a much warmer reaction than O'Hare when Coventry take on United this weekend.

"Callum O'Hare, I think, is going to get a lot of boos from the fans because of certain comments he said when he left the club, sort of talking down about the club and putting the blame on them as to why he wasn't there and why he wasn't staying," Ryan told FLW.

"The fact was that he had come back from a long-term injury, and the team was doing reasonably well, so there was no need to make him play 90 minutes each game.

"You are going to play a bit part when you're coming back from a serious injury, so his comments were deemed to be a bit disrespectful by the fans, and fans don't believe for a minute that he wanted to stay.

"He was always going to go for bigger money which Sheffield United could offer and Coventry City couldn't.

"As for Gus Hamer, he was quite vocal about wanting to stay, and I believe that he would've had City met his wage expectations. But when a Premier League club comes in, like United were at the time, then he's always going to jump ship.

"He got a mega-money deal there, playing Premier League football at the time, and everyone wished him well in his move because it was understandable.

"And he was absolutely fantastic and has only ever spoken highly of the club, and he's been back a lot of times when Sheffield United haven't been playing, sat in the stands supporting Coventry. He's thought of very well here.

"I think Hamer will get a good reception and Callum O'Hare will get the opposite; he'll get a lot of boos. It'll be an interesting one, but let's hope that either of them don't come back to haunt us."

It's a shame that Callum O'Hare's relationship with the Coventry supporters has gone downhill

Were it not for an awful knee injury at the end of 2022, O'Hare may have been able to help City in their push to secure a promotion to the Premier League alongside Hamer and Viktor Gyokeres. But it wasn't to be; he missed the rest of the season and the start of the next one.

He came back firing when he made his return to the first-team, launching them up towards the top six after an up-and-down start to the campaign. The 26-year-old then went on to score at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United.

There are so many positives to remember about O'Hare's time in Sky Blue, but it's just a bit tainted now by the way that he left.

Every footballer, or anyone in any profession, in fact, has the right to leave a team/business at the end of their contract, but there are ways to handle it that may have preserved his legacy among Coventry fans a bit better than it has been - now, he can expect a vociferous reception from the home crowd.