Oxford boss Karl Robinson is unhappy with Northern Ireland after he was denied the services of Gavin Whyte for this weekend’s huge relegation clash with Plymouth Argyle.
Whyte signed from Irish side Crusaders in the summer and that fast tracked a path into the Northern Ireland side. He scored on his debut against Israel last month and is part of the squad facing Austria tomorrow and Bosnia-Herzegovina three days later.
Robinson has been eager to get his player out of the two games but has allegedly been ‘unable to get hold’ of manager Michael O’Neill. Robinson is extremely frustrated to see Kyle Lafferty withdraw from the squad earlier this week, whilst Whyte remains with the camp.
“I asked if he could come back,” moaned Robinson. “I feel low with that, because if we hadn’t signed Gavin Whyte, he wouldn’t have been there. It’s not like we’ve got a top international player who has been there year-in, year-out and earned their stripes playing somewhere else.”
Robinson lamented the fact that bottom of League One football had surely been the catalyst for Whyte’s call up, rather than his own ability.
“He would have been playing for the under 21s probably, but we would have probably got special dispensation for that with where we are right now.”
Our View
Karl Robinson in whining about anything shocker. He is under pressure, his side are not happy playing at home and he’s lost one of his key players.
It would be grossly unfair on Whyte to pull him out of the international squad just because Robinson can’t cope with one player being out of action.
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