Glen Johnson responds after Saido Berahino questions why former Stoke team-mate slammed him on talkSPORT

Glen Johnson insists it wasn't his job to discipline Saido Berahino at Stoke after the controversial striker hit back at his former team-mate's criticism.

Johnson launched a brutal attack on Berahino’s character in an extraordinary talkSPORT interview in August.

And in a recent interview with , Berahino questioned why Johnson went public with his feelings rather than talking to him personally.

The striker, now of Belgian club Zulte Waregem, said: "I respect Glen Johnson’s career that he’s already produced. That’s his opinion. If that’s how he felt, it’s funny that he’s coming out now on radio when the disappointing thing for me is I had so much respect for him.

1

“I sat next to him in the changing room. There was never one time he called me aside and said about my behaviour or anything.

“He’s a well respected player, he’s a senior player. He’s got so many accolades, so I was a bit disappointed that he had to go to the radio to say that.

"He could have said something when I was going through a tough period at Stoke, but if that’s how he feels then I can only respect his opinion and I wish him all the best for what he is doing in his career now.”

But Johnson explains why he chose to maintain positive relations with Berahino while they were team-mates.

“First of all, it’s not my problem. I’m not the manager," Johnson told talkSPORT.

“I will say something to him as a lad and one of the boys, it’s not going to be a formal thing. That’s not my job.

“I would’ve definitely said something to him. To say that I was doing it behind the radio is madness because that morning, we didn’t even know we were going to have that chat.

“I was asked a question and I just gave an honest answer. I didn’t wake up that morning expecting to have that chat.

“When we were training I was one of the guys being positive to him. When he was missing chances and miscontrolling the ball, you try and gee him up and get him going, because if you jump on him at that point it’s not going to help anyone.

"So he had all the support from the lads in training."