2 Tone T-shirts to show solidarity with Coventry City player allegedly abused at game

Police are investigating the alleged abuse against Kasey Palmer last Saturday

A woman is offering to make Coventry City fans free 2 Tone T-shirts to wear at the club's FA Cup tie, after a player was allegedly racially abused.

Midfielder Kasey Palmer reported abuse after Coventry's Championship game with Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough last Saturday. A man has been arrested.

The clubs meet in the Cup on Friday and fan Sara Phipps said she wanted to show solidarity with Palmer.

2 Tone music was born in the city with players honouring it in a 2019 kit.

The musical genre spread a message of racial unity in the late 70s and early 80s with The Specials, who topped the charts with Too Much Too Young and Ghost Town, very much the face of the scene.

The club's kit featured aspects of the music label's black and white branding, and the anti-racism Kick It Out logo.

Ms Phipps said she knew another Sky Blues fan, Ben Wise, had been urging fans to wear their own T-shirts for the game so she posted on X to say she could make some of her own for free.

City wore the kit for its League One home game against Tranmere Rovers at St Andrew's in 2019

She said she has since been "inundated".

"I just thought for those going to the game, they want to show a bit of solidarity, because I think every single person in the club was touched by this at the weekend, that I would make something that they could go along, wear and be proud of and just stand with Kasey and say 'we support you'.

"I don't want to make money on this, it's not something I want to make a quick buck on, it's just something for the fans. It's something I can do, I can afford to do so why not."

Her T-shirts read "CCFC Against Racism" with Palmer's name and number 45 on the back.

Hot cakes

"I've been inundated," she said.

"They've gone like hot cakes. I've managed to get a few more T-shirts so there's still a few more available now."

She said she thought there would be a "pride and solidarity" among the thousands of travelling fans on Friday evening.

South Yorkshire Police is investigating the alleged racially aggravated abuse directed at Palmer.

After another alleged incident in European leagues last weekend, Fifa president Gianni Infantino called for the implementation of an automatic forfeit of games for teams whose fans commit racist abuse.