STEVE Clarke has defended Ryan Porteous following his weekend mauling by Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin and revealed the Hibernian centre half is in line to make his Scotland debut in this international break.
Goodwin singled out Porteous for scathing criticism after the Pittodrie club suffered a 3-1 defeat to Hibs in a cinch Premiership game at Easter Road on Saturday.
He branded the defender “a cheat” after referee David Dickinson sent off Liam Scales following a tussle with the defender and awarded the home team penalty which Martin Boyle scored.
But Clarke has stated the 23-year-old, who has become a hate figure with Rangers fans following a series of high-profile flashpoints in recent seasons, has an unfair reputation.
“I am not aware of a media storm around him,” he said. “Ryan is fine. I spoke to him and he is fine, he is comfortable. I think we should protect all the players if we can.
“Listen, once you are out there on the pitch you are there to be judged and some people will judge you the other way,
“I will only judge Ryan by what he does for us, how he trains for us, how he works for us when he gets his chance to play. That’s how I will judge him.
“I can’t comment on what other people think of Ryan Porteous. I think (he is tarnished) unfairly.
“I have found him to be a very enthusiastic, polite young man who comes into the group, trains well, works well and is desperate to play for his country.”
Clarke was dealt a blow on Monday when Norwich City centre half Grant Hanley was forced to pull out of the Scotland squad.
Asked if Porteous could win his first cap against either Ukraine or the Republic of Ireland in the next seven days, he said: “Well if you look at it, I only have three players that would be recognised as central defenders (Jack Hendry, Scott McKenna and Kieran Tierney). It would certainly improve his chances.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel