Gary O'Neil speaks out as Wolves star alleges racial abuse in pre-season friendly

Wolves boss Gary O’Neil revealed that Hwang Hee-chan turned down the offer for his team to walk off the pitch after the South Korean forward reported alleged racial abuse during a pre-season friendly with Como.

The second half of the training match was marred by an incident that led to Daniel Podence being sent off for punching one of his opponents, as Wolves confirmed that they would be submitting a formal complaint to UEFA.

O’Neil explained that he asked Hwang if he would like Wolves to abandon the match in protest of the racial abuse he claimed to have received, but the 28-year-old wanted to play on instead.

“Channy heard a racist remark which is really disappointing,” O’Neil said. “I spoke to Channy about it, checked whether he wanted to take the team off or come off himself, but he was keen the team carried on and got the work they needed.

“It’s really disappointing that it happened, that we have to talk about it and that it impacted the game – not ideal and things like that shouldn’t be around. He’s really disappointed, of course, and understandably. I’m proud of the fact that he wanted to carry on and put his team first in a difficult moment for him.

“He knew it was a pre-season trip and he wanted the lads to work and get their minutes, even though he’d suffered something hugely offensive. Channy will be OK, he’ll get our full support and we’ll pick him up in the morning and make sure he’s OK.

“It’s a together group. Of course, there’s ways to handle that and we don’t want to leave ourselves short on the pitch, but it’s a together group. We’ve worked really hard this week, had a good week, had some great moments in the game, but it’s an unfortunate incident we have to deal with and have to discuss when, ideally, we’d be talking about the game. Of course, when an incident like that happens in a game, it’s the first thing we discuss.”

The game, played in Marbella, was the first of Wolves’ pre-season friendlies as defender Matt Doherty scored the only goal of the contest. But Podence was among those irate at the alleged racial remark in yet another friendly controversy for Wolves.

Two years ago, a training match with Levante saw four red cards produced - including another for Podence who grabbed an opponent by his neck.

Later that summer Hee-chan was targeted by discriminatory abuse in a friendly with Portuguese side Farense, prompting him to speak out on Instagram: “We are all the same human beings.”

Wolves confirmed in a statement that they would make a formal complaint to UEFA regarding the incident with Como, writing: “Racism or discrimination in any form is completely unacceptable and should never be left unchallenged, and Wolves will be submitting a formal complaint to UEFA regarding the incident."