Michael Stewart reacts as controversial Ryan Porteous to Rangers signing mooted after Michael Beale tip-off
Michael Stewart claimed “that’d’ve gone down well” if Rangers had signed Ryan Porteous after the Scotland international was suggested to Michael Beale by Kevin Thomson.
The BBC pundit suggested on Sportsound, as per the Daily Record (9 September), that the now-Watford man arriving at Ibrox wouldn’t have been popular after Thomson said he had told the now-Gers boss to sign the defender when the pair were coaching at the club when Steven Gerrard was in charge.
Porteous, 24, moved to Watford in January and Thomson believes they got a “steal” but expects their resolve to keep him to be tested sooner rather than later.
Thomson said: “£450k for Ryan Porteous, Watford must be rubbing their hands, it’s a steal. I actually told Mick Beale to sign him when I was at Rangers, when I coached in the academy.”
After Stewart’s interjection he went on: “He would have ended up with the same reputation as me. They are all developing. I am not being disrespectful to Watford but someone is going to test their resolve pretty quickly I would imagine with Ryan’s performances.”
Missed opportunity?
Porteous is proving a standout for Scotland amid Steve Clarke’s excellent qualifying campaign, and scored in the latest victory, 3-0 over Cyprus on Friday (8 September).
He was linked to an Ibrox move in the run up to the January window before he left Hibs for England after Jim Duffy relayed a rumour on Clyde Superscoreboard on 5 December.
But it was seen as a somewhat controversial move at the time given his run-ins with Rangers in the past [The Times] and obviously didn’t happen.
Given Beale was looking to add to his central defensive unit during the summer and wasn’t able to aside from bringing back Leon Balogun as injury cover he may be regretting not doing the deal when he had the chance, either in the winter or when Thomson brought it up a couple of years ago.
Stewart is probably right that a move wouldn’t have gone down well, but most players can win over the fanbase if they just perform on the pitch.
And Beale himself isn’t going down well with the supporters right now after a rough start to the season and another lost to Celtic.
So things change fast in football, and it perhaps wouldn’t been an absolute shock if Porteous returned to Scotland at Ibrox at some point, even if it looks impossible in the near future.
In other Rangers news, two English FA Cup winners were mooted as replacements if Beale is sacked as a BBC pundit reacted.