Charlton boss Robinson: Sheffield United new boy Holmes should be judged on what he did on the pitch – he pushed his body to the limit

Karl Robinson reckons Charlton fans should be more worried about the graft Ricky Holmes put in during his time at the club rather than any parting message from the player on social media.

The winger initially received some stick from Addicks supporters for the way he announced his £400,000 move to Sheffield United.

Holmes later put up a longer message explaining his decision to leave the League One club.

“Everyone in the building was disappointed when he left,” said Robinson. “It is maybe being a bit controversial but certain players say the right things on social media but you’re not sure if they mean it. They won’t work hard on the pitch but put out a lovely statement.

“The way I judge players is how hard they work and what they do on the pitch. How far they will push their bodies when it really matters. There is no fan who could say Ricky didn’t give everything in the shirt – he’d be at 85 minutes and would have nothing left in his body.

“I knew he would come out and say thank you are some stage. I’m not sure what he did or didn’t do on social media – I’m not on it so don’t get to see what is said. I’d only get slaughtered!

“I just hope we can replace his quality.

“Ricky’s statistics show he is the second best left winger in the division behind [Michael] Jacobs. The best right winger is Tariqe [Fosu]. They’ve only played together six or seven times and we were averaging 2.4 points a game. It shows we’re not far off it if we kept everyone available.’

“Ricky is playing for another manager who likes him – that helps in terms of the impact he can make.

“Chris [Wilder] and his team have worked really hard to make three permanent signings in Lee Evans, Ryan Leonard and Ricky. Evans is one of the best we’ve come up against and everyone knows Ryan’s quality.

“Ricky is an energetic, forward-thinking and aggressive in his play. He’ll score goals.”