Scott Parker says he supported the decision of his Burnley players to not shake hands with Preston North End forward Milutin Osmajic ahead of their FA Cup tie on Saturday.
Burnley midfielder Hannibal Mejbri had accused Osmajic of racially abusing him during their Championship game on February 15, which Preston say Osmajic strongly denies, and the Football Association (FA) is investigating the claim.
The league match last month was paused for several minutes after Osmajic appeared to say something to Hannibal with the Burnley player reacting angrily and reporting it to referee Andrew Kitchen, who stopped the game while he spoke to his fourth official as well as both dugouts before play was resumed.
Hannibal later posted to Instagram to say “nobody should have to experience” what he allegedly did.
“I will not be silent about what happened today,” he wrote. “I will always call out racism whenever I hear or see it. That is the only way we change as a sport and a society. I am a strong person but nobody should have to experience this disgusting abuse on the pitch.”
Both clubs addressed the incident at the time with statements with Preston indicating that Osmajic had “strongly refuted” the claims in a post-match meeting with match officials.
The 25-year-old Montenegrin was named in Preston’s starting line-up for Saturday’s FA Cup tie at Deepdale while the FA investigation continues.
Parker said he decided to leave Hannibal out of Saturday’s game to “protect” him and none of Burnley’s players offered their hands to Osmajic during the usual pre-match handshakes.
“The players decided that was a stance they were going to take. I was fully supportive of that when I found out,” Parker told reporters after the game.
“If that’s the decision this group wanted to take out of support, and an understanding of more clarity and understanding of the situation, that’s the decision they made.”
Preston won the tie 3-0 and after scoring their second goal, Osmajic celebrated in front of Burnley’s travelling supporters by cupping his hands around his ears. Preston manager Paul Heckingbottom said Osmajic “wanted to be involved”.
Parker said he decided against picking Hannibal, the former Manchester United midfielder, but that it made him “sad”.
“I made the conscious decision to take him out of that situation,” he said. “I didn’t want to put Hannibal in a situation today which is still up in the air because that’s what it is — and he’s coming to an away stadium, maybe against a player that the allegations are against.
“My decision, which took me a long time and a lot of thinking about, was that I just wanted to protect Hannibal. The fact that Hannibal’s had to miss out today makes me sad.”
Osmajic was handed an eight-match suspension and fined £15,000 earlier this season after being found guilty of biting Blackburn Rovers left-back Owen Beck during a match in September.
(Top Image: BBC Sport)
