Ryan Porteous calls out abuse after tackle on Rangers player Joe Aribo
Ryan Porteous has revealed the level of abuse he has received since he was sent off against Rangers at the start of the month.
The 22-year-old went flying into a reckless tackle on Joe Aribo and was rightly dismissed despite many complaints.
However, it seems as if he has received a huge amount of abuse, which is totally uncalled for in the bigger picture.
Speaking to The Times, Porteous said: “When a 22-year-old guy like me makes a challenge on a football pitch, and then receives death threats, and gets slandered by many people as a racist because I dared to tackle a black Rangers player, and is then wanted ‘to die of cancer’, I just think all of that is wrong.
“Maybe some players wouldn’t come out and talk about these things … they would shy away from it. But I can’t. It’s totally off the scale, and it has to be called out.”
Brave interview from Porteous.
I think we can all agree that Porteous’ tackle was poor, with Steven Gerrard slating it after the match [Scottish Sun].
However, there is no need for him then to be targeted with vile personal abuse that could have an impact on him.
At the end of the day, he made a bad tackle and was sent off; his side then lost the match, which surely is punishment enough?
Instead, he has had to endure this abuse, which is totally unacceptable.
Every player, especially centre-backs, can make bad challenges, but that doesn’t mean they have intentionally tried to hurt the opposite player.
Therefore, all of this stuff that Porteous has had to deal with is totally uncalled for and unfair.
The fact he has spoken out against it is incredibly brave, and he deserves great credit for that.
We hope that the abuse stops and he can just get on with living his life, considering he is just 22.
In other Rangers news, Chris Sutton has torn into Ryan Kent.