CATS BOSS CALLS IN DOCTOR
OLA Toivonen has revealed how hard Sunderland’s players found it to come to terms with Adam Johnson’s conviction for sex crimes in 2016.
The Swedish midfielder was on loan at the Stadium of Light in 2015-16, when Johnson was jailed for grooming and sexual activity with a child.
And in an interview for the Lundh podcast in his homeland, Toivonen has talked about the atmosphere when the extent of their teammate’s crimes became clear.
“We were shaken in the dressing room because of what came out,” he revealed. “He had denied it and they (the players) thought the club had taken care of it. But then all the cards turned and then it became strange.
“We did not know what he had done – he had denied everything. So we only knew what the club knew.
“But then when everything was laid out on the table, we were all very shocked. It was two, three days later when we really talked about it – then it was ‘Yes, it’s sick this one’.”
It was before Toivonen’s time with the club, in March 2015, that Johnson was arrested, and April when he was charged with three counts of sexual activity against a child and one of grooming.
Despite Toivonen’s comments, it emerged during the trial the Black Cats’ chief executive Margaret Byrne became aware in May 2015 Johnson had groomed and kissed a 15-year-old schoolgirl. Johnson was allowed to play on, making 20 appearances in his final season – something Byrne later admitted was a “serious error of judgment” and resigned over.
Sunderland avoided relegation by two points in 2016.
At his trial, Johnson pleaded guilty to two charges, was found guilty of another and not guilty of a fourth.
Johnson was jailed for six years.
Toivonen left Sunderland at the end of his loan spell. Adam Johnson