Paul Heckingbottom speaks out on Milutin Osmajic situation as Preston and Burnley await FA hearing outcome
The PNE striker’s FA hearing took place last month
Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom has stressed the need for a conclusion after Milutin Osmajic’s FA hearing.
The Montenegrin’s hearing started on September 23, seven months after he was charged by the FA for an aggravated breach of FA Rule E3. Burnley midfielder Hannibal Mejbri made racism allegations against Osmajic - who ‘strongly refuted’ them. PNE CEO Peter Ridsdale spoke publicly on the matter last month but all parties are still waiting for an outcome.
“It could’ve - should’ve - been dealt with a long time ago,” Heckingbottom told BBC Lancashire last weekend. “The topic's important and it means a lot to a lot of people and rightly so, but also we've got two lads' careers and they're trying to get on with it. Regardless of what happens, we'll never, ever know.
“There's probably not even two people that know what happened; there's one person that knows, regardless of what happens with it. So yeah, we would’ve loved for it to have been sorted one way or another and move on, but it's not (been). Hopefully, we'll get to the bottom of it soon.”
Heckingbottom added to the Lancashire Post: “ Yeah listen, he’s not fine because it's not nice, is it? Like I said, regardless of what happens - and this is the strange thing - it's not a court of law, it’s not. So, it's not on evidence. There'll only ever be one person who knows what's actually happened because we've not got any absolutes.
“So that's the unique thing when it's FA hearings, but it's an important topic that needs dealing with. Like I said, we've got to respect that and abide by it. We have, as a club, been very, very good in this and not shied away from any of it, but we just want a conclusion to it now.”
On whether Heckingbottom has allowed himself to stress or worry about the possible implications, he added: “No, because there's a bigger thing that happened here. Like I said, there's two lads' careers involved in it, so we wouldn't be selfish. We know it does have implications, potentially, for us. But there's two young players involved in it who it's all about, really.”
Why Osmajic wasn’t involved last Saturday
“He's not trained again,” said Heckingbottom. “He hurt his back literally getting out of the car on Tuesday and his back just went into a spasm. So, he put himself forward and we gave him to the very last minute. He did the warm-up and you're always wondering then, ‘Right, he's fit, but how's he going to react on the bench?’
“He was desperate to come on. I think he was badgering Pete Murphy about telling the manager, ‘I'm fit, get me on’. But again, we've got other players in there who can perform and help us win. Milly's great, you know what I think of Milly and he's a threat. But it wasn't really a game where I needed him, so I wasn't going to risk him and put him on.
“But I'm delighted with his attitude, putting himself forward to play, which is what we want. We'll see how he reacts. Hopefully, he's over it and if he goes away and plays football (for Montenegro), fantastic. You never know. Once you've got rid of the spasm, movement's the best thing for you. It's something we'll have to monitor.”