Ryan Porteous: Hibs defender should be nurtured and encouraged - not castigated

Leaving aside his off-field issues, the 22-year-old has emerged an important player under Shaun Maloney at Easter Road.

It has likely flown under the radar because of the reputation that follows him around but Porteous has stepped up his performances this season.

Last term there were far too many mistakes in his game that led to the loss of goals but considering it was his first full season of regular Scottish Premiership football he put in some good performances, earned praise from then manager Jack Ross, and was called into the Scotland squad in October 2020.

This season he has turned things up a notch.

He is second for interceptions behind Paul Hanlon and has won more tackles than any other Hibs player – cleanly, it should be pointed out.

His passing, previously one of the weaker aspects of his all-round game, has improved and he is currently averaging higher than 80 per cent in terms of successful passes per game which is crucial to how Maloney wants his team to play.

Porteous appears to have taken to the new manager’s style like a duck to water. He has become a better, more rounded player. There is still room for improvement and he still has things to learn but he has progressed from last season.

It is sometimes easy to forget that he is still relatively young – turning 23 next week – given the number of first-team games under his belt already. It is perhaps admirable how well he coped with the tirade of social media abuse sent to him in the aftermath of his red card at Ibrox in early October.

More than happy to take the “stick” that goes hand-in-glove with Scottish football, Porteous felt that things had gone too far when his inbox was filling up with death threats, sectarian and homophobic abuse, and