Birmingham City and West Brom managers respond as Juninho Bacuna reports racial abuse

Tony Mowbray and Carlos Corberan have strongly condemned the alleged racial abuse Birmingham City midfielder Juninho Bacuna suffered at the end of the 1-0 defeat at West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.

Blues' number seven was visibly distressed in second-half stoppage time as he heard a racial slur in his direction, coming from the Halfords Lane Stand. Bacuna had a conversation with referee David Webb to make him aware of the incident, while the Curucao international's teammates came over to console him.

The two managers believe the relevant authorities should conduct a heavy investigation into the incident and ban the alleged culprit from The Hawthorns for life if found guilty. Mowbray called for even stronger action after that, too, as he offered protection for Bacuna, who has sadly been subject to similar abuse from the stands before.

"I was there when he made the referee aware of some abuse he received from an individual in the stand. He obviously wasn’t very happy with it," Mowbray explained during the post-match press conference.

"I think it is getting dealt with downstairs. It’s sad, really. It’s not the first time in the last couple of weeks – it happened recently for a player I used to manage, Kasey Palmer. The consequences need to be strong so that individuals think twice about what they say to footballers.

"He [Bacuna] is not very happy and it's right that he brings it to the attention of the officials. My own opinion is that the consequences have to be really harsh so that people think twice about racially abusing people. That individual should feel the consequences of his actions," Mowbray continued.

West Brom's head coach had a similar viewpoint. "I think there was an incident that I don’t know with detail. If there is any type of antagonistic behaviour, I know my club and my players would always side against these situations," Corberan said.

"If there was something connected with racism, I know my players always take the knee. I don’t know what happened, but I know the club would take a serious investigation if something has been done," Corberan continued.