Simon Jordan suggests Milutin Osmajic ‘did a Mike Tyson’ and bit Owen Beck because he could not get the better of the Blackburn star.
The Preston man went viral over the weekend after appearing to purposely plant his teeth on the neck of Liverpool loanee Beck after a tackle on North End’s Duane Holmes.
Osmajic appeared to bite his opponent – but he wasn’t given his marching ordersSky Sports
Beck was sent off for the challenge, but despite protesting to the referee and showing him bite marks, Osmajic was only given a yellow card.
Reports on Monday stated the Football Association were investigating the incident.
Former Liverpool star Luis Suarez received a 10-match ban for biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic in the Premier League in 2013.
And when asked why players still bite opponents, Jordan went beyond the Suarez comparison, likening Osmajic’s move to the infamous moment boxing legend Tyson bit off Evander Holyfield’s ear in their fight in 1997.
Jordan said: “It’s exasperation, it’s frustration, it’s not unable to overcome your opponent. I mean, we saw the most celebrated or reviled boxing scenario in Mike Tyson biting off Evander Holyfield’s ear in a fight, you know, where that’s been broadcast around the world because he couldn’t overcome Holyfield and he lost his mind and was frustrated.
“I don’t know what this guy’s excuse is, whether his opponent’s got the better of him all game and he subsequently lost his ability to be able to rationalise his thinking, or whether he’s just a thug.
“I don’t know, I don’t know the kid. But what I do know is his behaviour needs to be consequenced. And it’s ridiculous, I’m not suggesting that everyone must walk around reminding themselves that they’re a role model, but you can’t have footballers biting one another on a pitch, spitting at one another, I’m not suggesting this is anything resembling spitting, it’s biting.
“So, you know, the evidence will be what it is and he will get the consequence that he needs to be getting, which I suspect is a significant amount of games [banned].
“More than that.”
Asked whether spitting is worse, the ex-Crystal Palace chairman continued: “Well, biting’s pretty bad, isn’t it? I mean, spitting is a degradation of someone, isn’t it? You’re degrading someone. I think you’re degrading yourself because you can’t overcome them, so you spit on them.
Jordan says there has to be zero tolerance for bitingtalkSPORT
Tyson was no stranger to controversy, he bit part of Holyfield’s ear off in their heavyweight clash
“But it’s a degradation of someone, it’s a basic, you know, devaluation of someone by just spitting on them. And I think it’s pretty low. And I think it says more about the person that’s doing it than the person that’s receiving the spit. And hopefully we’ll see less of it.
“But he does need to be consequenced, he should be consequenced by the club first.”
“It’s deeply inappropriate,” he added. “There’s no excuse for it, it doesn’t matter about the heat, the temperature, the energy of a derby. You don’t bite someone on the back of the neck, or you don’t bite them anywhere.
“And it’s going to be a matter of fact, isn’t it? I mean, I saw the video of the player suggesting to the referee that he’d been bitten, showing him the teeth marks on the back of his neck. You’ll be able to get the evidence, it’ll be indelible, and he should get the prerequisite sanction. We’ve got precedent for this.
“We’ve got [Luis] Suarez and his appalling behaviour, and so you leverage that and you turn it into that as the consequence of his behaviour.
“Now, people calling for a season’s ban, I don’t think there’s any precedent for that, but I do think the guy needs to have the book thrown at him.”
Osmajic could receive a lengthy banGETTY
Preston manager’s Paul Heckingbottom, meanwhile, also condemned his player’s move.
“I’ve just been told there, when I did the Sky interview,” he said at the time. “Listen, all I can say is that there is no place for that and we know we can’t do that. Mistimed tackles, things like that are part and parcel of the game – you accept them.
“Anything that is not, we know how that’s dealt with. But, I have not seen anything so I am just going off you saying there has been an incident. I’ll wait and see what happens.”
Jim White also revealed Preston director Peter Ridsdale stated the club were waiting for the referee’s report as of Monday.
North End were the first club in the English Football League to oversee a managerial casualty this season, with Ryan Lowe leaving the club after just one game. He was replaced by Heckingbottom.
They currently sit 21st in the Championship.
