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Preston North End narrowly avoided relegation from the Championship in 2025/26, and next season has to be better from the Lancashire club.
A 2-2 draw against Bristol City on the final day was enough for the Lilywhites to confirm their second tier status as Matt Bloomfield slammed his Luton Town team upon dropping down to League One.
Preston completed their first signing of the summer early, but vast improvements are still needed to ensure that they are not involved in the fight for survival once again in the new campaign.
However, there is also another problem that the club are dealing with, and Paul Heckingbottom will be extremely aware of the situation.
Preston North End are still awaiting the conclusion of Milutin Osmajic’s investigation
Back in February 2025, Preston welcomed Burnley to Deepdale in a Lancashire derby in the Championship. During the contest, the Clarets’ Hannibal Mejbri accused Milutin Osmajic of racially abusing him – with Hannibal later speaking out on social media about the situation.
This claim was refuted by the Lilywhites’ striker, but he was subsequently charged by the FA in March for breaching FA Rule E3. The 25-year-old was given until 25 March to respond, but this was later extended until 2 April as he was receiving treatment from a specialist for an injury at that time.
Preston CEO, Peter Risdale, confirmed in May that both the club and the player had responded to the charge, but it is now in the FA’s hands.
Risdale said (via: BBC Radio Lancashire): “The worst thing in the world is uncertainty.
“You can live and plan with the knowledge of what is happening, but it’s very difficult to plan when you’ve no idea what is happening. Sadly an incident took place in the game against Burnley in the league. We are still awaiting what, if any, action the FA think they wish to take.
“He hasn’t had a personal hearing or a response to a charge. We’ve been asked for our comments which we’ve given, weeks and weeks ago and we’re still waiting to see what happens next. From our point of view and from his point of view, what we need is for this to be behind us. It needs to be history with whatever outcome is determined and then we can plan and manage it.”
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Similar cases have seen prolonged waits for a verdict
In November 2011, then-Liverpool striker Luis Suarez was charged by the FA for allegedly racially abusing Manchester United left-back Patrice Evra a month earlier. That December, the retired Uruguay international was found guilty and received an eight-match ban and a £40,000 fine, as per BBC Sport.
In 2023, former Crawley Town boss John Yems was banned for three years from football after 12 breaches of anti-discrimination rules. He was originally banned for 17 months, but this was extended after the FA appealed as they believed the sanction was too lenient.
The Football Association brought in a mandatory ban of six games for anyone found guilty of racist abuse in 2019, and these cases are thoroughly checked which will explain the length of time between Osmajic’s charge and any potential verdict.