Former Hibs star says he could have 'gone under' after fallout from Steven Gerrard comments

Ryan Porteous has opened up on former criticism from ex-Rangers manager Steven Gerrard.

Former Hibs star Ryan Porteous has opened up on the impact his run-ins with Rangers and ex-manager Steven Gerrard could have had on him. The defender, who now plays in the EFL Championship with Watford, was called out by the Liverpool icon for his red card challenge on Joe Aribo back in 2021.

A furious Gerrard described it as a 'leg-breaking tackle' and scorned Porteous' reckless lunge, also referring to a high challenge he put in on Lassana Coulibaly, which resulted in a yellow. The centre-back was shown red for a tackle on Borna Barišić as well, which Porteous himself admitted there was 'no need' for.

The fallout following Gerrard's comments resulted in severe criticism from fans over Porteous' aggressive defensive style. The former Hibs star was bombarded with hateful messages on social media, which former manager Jack Ross described as 'sectarian abuse, homophobic abuse, people telling him they hope he dies of a tumour'.

Porteous reflected on this time in his career during a recent press conference and stressed the risk of people 'going under' when faced with similar difficulties during their footballing career.

"I think if I didn’t have as many people around me that help you out, a lot of people could go under with the stuff I kind of dealt with. But I had good managers, good teammates and a good group of mates and family that always said 'don’t listen to it and read it', and I taught myself not to.

"When you are young and coming through, you always pick up your phone and go on Twitter or whatever and you look at it. There are a lot of young lads that might go through similar that could go under, but I always had a good group of people behind me and, obviously, within football who said don’t listen to it."

Porteous also reflected on how much he has grown as a player since then and admitted his has 'not been hotheaded for a while' but hopes he has 'got better' as both a professional and a person in the game.

"You learn from mistakes. You take the positives as well. I think that kind of stuff makes you stronger. You learn from the naivety you have at a young age. It’s stood me in good stead. I’ve not been hotheaded for a while. There have been flare-ups at times. Listen, hopefully I’ve got better. A better player. A better person. On and off the park as well. You learn.

"I don’t think it was as big a problem as it was made out to be, but, hopefully, the one thing that’s changed over the last three or four years is I’ve become a better player."