Jim Goodwin owes Ryan Porteous and Hibs an apology and SFA need to set a precedent - Tam McManus

Let's get one thing straight - Jim Goodwin was bang out of order calling Ryan Porteous a cheat and owes the player an apology. The Aberdeen boss never pulled out of a tackle as a player.

But he needs to reverse out of this row asap because he was wrong about the incident and wrong in his use of words. Jim’s obviously frustrated with the decision that’s gone against his team and cost them a penalty and red card. But a manager can’t come out and call an opposition player a cheat in public. These things stick and the bottom line is that Jim is wrong.

It’s really poor and he can surely expect a call from the SFA discipline chiefs if it’s not already arrived. I don’t like seeing managers banned but I think the beaks have to set a precedent here because you can’t call someone a cheat especially when replays show Ryan DIDN’T dive. It was a tangle between two players grappling and it’s not as if the Hibs defender collapsed like a deck chair in the box.

It was a soft penalty but that’s on the referee not the player. Listen, there were a few incidents involving Ryan when Jim was St Mirren gaffer and, playing devil’s advocate here, then yes there have been times he’s gone down too easy but those were a long time ago.

Coincidentally it was the same weekend last season that he took a pop at the player for winning a penalty against the Buddies in a similar situation. But he was cuter with his words then when he said: “ Porteous has a habit of winning cheap free-kicks over the years. Some people might say he was clever but for me the referee needs to see what was going on.”

Not this time. To brand someone a cheat is out of order. It’s too strong and players can’t afford to have labels like that attached to them. He needs to have