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Johnson's exit hurts Usuthu

AFTER moving off the bottom of the Premier League, AmaZulu jumped from an on-field crisis to an off-field one when they sacked Liberian Dulee Johnson.

Johnson had been hired on a two-year contract and was fired for allegedly failing a drugs test. The club is determined to keep the nature of Johnson's offence under wraps, merely stating that it was a "serious breach of contract", but a source within the club said the player failed a routine drugs test.

AmaZulu went to great lengths at the start of the season to get the player on the park - getting him to full fitness and sweating to get his legal documentation in order - but have now shown him the door after a handful of appearances.

Johnson had also made fewer than four appearances for his previous two clubs, Panetolikos in Greece and De Graffschap in the Netherlands, before joining Usuthu.

Coach Roger Palmgren, who hand-picked Johnson as a free agent four months ago, said he did not know about the player's short stints at previous clubs or why he had lost his discipline in such an unforgivable manner at the Durban side.

"I didn't know that he had played less than four games in his last two clubs. I know that the coaches in Sweden (at club AIK), which he won the league with, said he was a very good player there. All our technical staff liked what they saw; he had the best CV out of anyone who has played for AmaZulu before. I don't know why he lost his discipline, you'd have to ask him," Palmgren said. AmaZulu spokesperson Philani Mabaso would not confirm nor deny that the player had doped.

"We have taken a decision not to go deep in saying what he did, to respect his rights because it could have career implications for him in the future," Mabaso said.

Palmgren will again have to scurry to repair his team, which is also plagued by injuries, only days after they dug themselves out of bottom spot. But the coach insisted that Johnson was not irreplaceable. "Those things happen if people don't behave in a proper manner, there are rules that must be followed. We won't have any problems replacing Johnson on the field. Andile (Khumalo) came up and played well last weekend and we have KG (Kagiso Senamela) and (Khulegani) Madondo, so there won't be a problem. I don't think we'll look to buy in January but the only problem is the goalscoring department, which has scored only four goals in 10 games."

Fahmy Galant, doping control manager at the SA Institute for Drug-Free Sport, said they would prefer soccer clubs to come forward with the information in the event that a player fails a drugs test, although they were not obliged to do so.