I heard Ryan Porteous isn't happy with me but there was no joy after THAT X-rated Scotland tackle – Tam McManus

Let's put it this way, I’m not expecting to be top of Ryan Porteous ’ Christmas card list this winter.

Word has got back to me the Scotland stopper hasn’t been too happy with some of the things I’ve written about him down the years. I’ve been critical of some of the silly scrapes and needless sending-offs he got himself involved in during his time at Hibs. It’s certainly not personal. My job is to give my opinion on matters at Easter Road as truthfully as I can – not to be a cheerleader for the club.

So when I thought he went over the score with a couple of tackles, I said so. From what I gather, Ryan has taken exception to those comments and has made sure his feelings have been passed back to me. That’s fine. He has the right to think I’m talking nonsense just as I have the right to think it’s about time he stopped diving into reckless challenges. We’re never going to be best mates and that’s just the way it goes when you operate on the side of the business that I do now.

But while Ryan might not believe this, I did actually feel for him on Friday night as he got his Munich marching orders. I took no joy at all seeing him being sent off against Germany.

It was the biggest game of his life, kicking off the Euros against the host nation in front of a sold-out Allianz Arena, with millions more watching across the continent. Things started badly – and then only got worse.

Scotland had shipped two goals already when Porteous was forced to leap into a challenge just as Ilkay Gundogan looked set to ram home a third. Now I don’t think for a second he meant the Germany skipper any harm but he’s very lucky Gundogan didn’t suffer serious injury because his challenge was a shocker. He’s caught the Barca man halfway up his leg