Birmingham and Huddersfield managers condemn alleged racist abuse

Posted Wednesday, October 04, 2023 by PA

Mnager John Eustace condemned the alleged racist abuse aimed at midfielder Juninho Bacuna during Birmingham’s 4-1 victory over Huddersfield.

The game was stopped late in the second half when referee Sam Allison went to speak to Eustace and Terriers counterpart Darren Moore after the issue was raised on the field of play.

Speaking afterwards, with his side having won after two goals from Siriki Dembele and one each from Koji Miyoshi and Jordan James, Eustace made his feelings clear.

“I believe that Bacuna was racially abused by one of our fans which is obviously disgusting,” he said.

“It’s not something that we expect in society, let alone football. Birmingham is very proud of how diverse we are as a club and a city and there is certainly nowhere near any room for that at all.

“It’s very disappointing. They have reported it, it’s bang out of order.”

Moore said of the incident: “It’s a shame that it’s going to cloud the game tonight, because from Birmingham’s point of view it’s a good three points for them, but the incident is going to overshadow it.

“The referee stopped the game, called both managers over, said there was an incident in the corner from a home spectator directed at the home player and though the home player didn’t want to report it, our player Tom Edwards heard it. Both players heard it clearly and it’s gone on report.

“They’ve got video evidence and we will let the footballing authorities, referee and match officials get to the conclusion with it.

“It’s not something we condone in the game, but it’s still there and we show our support.”

Eustace was pleased with the performance of Dembele, who opened the scoring in the third minute and added his second in the 64th, sandwiching Miyoshi’s strike after 23 minutes.

Michal Helik pulled one back in the second minute of stoppage time but James had the last word three minutes later.

Eustace said: “The performance was good, it shows that when you are clinical it makes a big difference.

“Performances over the last four or five games have been good, we haven’t got enough points from them and tonight we were very clinical in the final third, which was really pleasing.

“Dems has come in, we have given him a platform to play, it has been very frustrating from everyone that he hasn’t been able to play over the last six or seven games.

“The last two games I’ve had to get him the right minutes to be able to perform.

“Tonight was always going to be a game I wanted to start him in, so it’s been frustrating for me to only use him as a bit-part player in the last few games, but there is a method to my madness.

“We’ve had to protect him in the right way and I thought tonight he was outstanding.”

Moore was far from happy with the Terriers’ display.

“The performance obviously wasn’t the best in terms of what we have set in recent weeks,” he said.

“We gave ourselves a mountain to climb in terms of the first goal. When I look at all four goals they were uncharacteristic of us. Goals three and four we were in possession of the ball, gave it away and got punished for it.

“I didn’t think we were clean enough with the ball, I didn’t think our patterns were quite as effective tonight. It’s just a bad night.

“We will learn from this and we will to move on. We suffer together as a group and we quickly apply it because we’ve got a quick turnaround.”