The debate over whether Stephen Welsh is a better player than Ryan Porteous is absolutely ridiculous, and it is no surprise to see that one of the people responsible for starting it is Hugh Keevins.
When Mark Wilson threw his two bob into the discussion the other day he was at pains to say he’s not a “Welsh hater like some others.”
We know that he was talking about Keevins, who it would kill to have to admit that he does not have a clue what he’s talking about and should never be trusted in judging a player when one considers the sheer number he’s dismissed out of hand without having a clue about. His pig ignorance is second only to his arrogance.
I really don’t believe it’s a worthwhile discussion to have.
Welsh is a Celtic player and Porteous is at Hibs.
If Porteous was as good as Welsh we’d have snapped him up ages ago. Those who damn Welsh with faint praise in saying “he hasn’t done much wrong” need to consider the context of what they are saying.
Welsh plays for the biggest club in the land, a club which competes every season in Europe, so when you say he hasn’t done much wrong and then claim that a Hibs player whose deficiencies are obvious and mistakes frequent is a better footballer you sound plain daft. Welsh competes at a higher level. If he hasn’t done much wrong then it’s case closed.
Welsh is much calmer than Porteous.
He is less prone to moments of madness.
Welsh has coped with the pressure of growing into a Celtic team … even if Porteous were a good enough footballer to be at our club we can’t know how he would handle that.
Some folks seem awfully invested in the idea that we should be making a play for Porteous, mostly because he’s available on a free.
Even if we did, where would he fit into the team? Keevins casually – ignorantly, arrogantly – dismissed half of our defence today. If he thinks Porteous is a better player than Jenz or Starfelt he’s stupider than even I thought, and I think there are things at the bottom of ponds with a more impressive skill-set than him.
Porteous is not as good as any of the players we already have in central defence at the club, and we’ve yet to see the big lad Kobayashi who we just signed from Japan. We would be signing a backup to the backup to the backup and maybe some of these daft sods think that’s smart but all that does is leads to bloat in the squad.
When it comes to Welsh, I’m a bit of an agnostic. He would do just fine most weeks, although we have better options. Most of us could not say that with any confidence against the Hibs player and that’s a good reason for passing on him right away.
The people who have been pushing this are always full of bright and brilliant suggestions for us. They would have had us sign some amount of dreck over the years, and so it’s difficult to take any of this stuff seriously. The bottom line is that it’s not going to happen; the boss watches the same stuff as we do and I very much doubt Porteous would get the nod.
We’re building a team for the next level. Quite what level Hugh Keevins thinks that is, I do not know. But Porteous would take us backwards in the SPL far less in Europe.
If he thinks that this is the sort of signing which would move us in the right direction his bosses should withhold his salary and find someone who knows what they are talking about.
Ralston is another who seems to be tarred with he is all right and done nothing wrong.
I think if Juranovic leaves then he should be no1.
Needs game time like Welsh
Why the picture of the “Brickie”? 🙂
Please allow for the fact that Keevins judges everything with his blue tinted spectacles on, if he isn’t wearing them he had his green tinted hateful ones on.
What he writes id to satisfy one demographic and noise up another.
He cannot be taken remotely seriously and really should be ignored rather than validated by mentioning him
Porteous is a better player than Welsh, no doubt about it, he has proved to be a leader at Hibs, strong and aggressive just like Broony was just needs big Ange to help curtail his rashers and he will be great
It’s all about opinions and that’s mine