Saido Berahino responds to Glen Johnson criticism and says he is sick of being made a scapegoat for Stoke City’s failures
Saido Berahino has responded to Glen Johnson’s criticism of his apparently disruptive character at Stoke City, saying he is sick of being made a scapegoat for the Potters’ failures.
Earlier this year, Johnson launched a brutal attack on his former Stoke team-mate in an extraordinary interview with talkSPORT.
His comments sparked a backlash, with Sheffield United midfielder Ravel Morrison, whose career has also been littered with disciplinary issues, one of several players to take issue, accusing the former Chelsea and Liverpool full-back of ‘trying to destroy people’s careers’.
Berahino joined talkSPORT on Christmas Eve to offer his response, and said his former team-mate should have ‘showed me some respect’ by speaking with him personally rather than go public with his feelings.
The striker, now playing for Belgian club Zulte Waregem, also branded the idea that one player was to blame for Stoke’s failures as ‘b******t’, insisting the Potters’ downfall was due to a lack of togetherness throughout the entire club.
Asked if he had heard Johnson’s criticism, Berahino told talkSPORT host Jim White: “Yeah, my family played it over and over again for me.
“I respect Glen Johnson for what he’s done in the game, but I was a disappointed for him to come out and say those things.
“This is a guy I looked up to, he’s won the Premier League and he’s been around for a long time. He actually sat next to me in the changing room and I cannot recall one time Glen tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘Saido you need to get your ass in gear’.
“A lot of things have been said outside of the Stoke changing room – this guy did this, this person coming out – for me it’s b******t.
“Everybody had a part to play, from the manager to the club itself, and for me it was so frustrating to see how many people were being used a scapegoat.
“We changed so many different managers and things weren’t going right, but they were still blaming some of the foreign lads and the big money signings.
“Something was not right at the club and unfortunately, no disrespect to Stoke, you can see where they are right now is not because of one person, their failure and downfall was them not being together.
“The team was not gelling together. There was a lot of quality individual players but as a team it was never collective enough. We should never have been relegated, it was embarrassing with the quality we had.
“I just couldn’t believe what Glen was saying. I wish him all the best, but for him to say the stuff he said he really hurt me deep inside.
“Forget being a footballer, we’re humans, speak to me as a human, show me some respect. I know I haven’t done a lot of in the game, but for him to say that.
“I didn’t understand his angle, what does he gain for singling me out? I was there for two years, I played with him for one season and there were a lot of guys there, but he decided to come for one person.”
Berahino also opened up on his struggles at Stoke, admitting he was ‘in a very dark place’ at the bet365 Stadium.
“It was difficult for me at Stoke,” he said.
“I was bought for a lot of money, £15million, and there was pressure on me to perform, but I couldn’t do that, I didn’t score a goal for two years.
“I was going through a lot and I struggled alone. I was in a very dark place. I wasn’t enjoying one part of the game, I was miserable.
“I just needed a break and I got one, this move is a second chance for me.”
The 26-year-old says he is loving life in Belgium and the change from what he claims is a toxic culture in England, but admits he also misses the Premier League and would love to return one day.