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Celtic fans chant ‘if you hate the royal family clap your hands’ during applause for Queen

Celtic supporters chanted throughout a minute’s applause in memory of the Queen ahead of their match against St Mirren.

Some fans chanted: “If you hate the royal family clap your hands” while a banner containing the same phrase was displayed in the away end.

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou had previously expressed the club’s wish that fans be “respectful” during any tributes.

The Glasgow club became the subject of Uefa disciplinary proceedings after supporters displayed a “F*** the Crown” banner during Wednesday’s Champions League draw against Shakhtar Donetsk in Poland.

Celtic lost the match to St Mirren 2-0, their first defeat in the Premiership in almost a year, and Postecoglou opted not to comment on the chants.

“I addressed all that in two press conferences, I’m not going to do it in three,” he said.

“I get why the interest is there, but I’m a manager at a football club, and I sit at press conferences wanting to talk about football.

“We addressed that matter, we did everything we needed to do, it’s time we moved on.”

Celtic fans hold up a banner before the cinch Premiership match at St Mirren (PA Wire)
Celtic fans hold up a banner before the cinch Premiership match at St Mirren (PA Wire)

There were disruptions to tributes at some of Saturday’s Premiership fixtures.

A minute’s silence at Ibrox was disrupted by Dundee United supporters. Boos and derogatory chants could be heard coming from the corner of the stadium housing several hundred visiting supporters before Rangers played “God Save the King”.

In a brief statement, Dundee United later stated that they had “reached out to advise our supporters of the pre-match arrangements with the expectation that the minute silence would be observed”.

There were similar reactions ahead of Hibernian’s game with Aberdeen at Easter Road, where boos and chants were audible during a minute’s applause.

The Scottish Football Association had postponed all matches the previous weekend following the Queen’s death and gave clubs the option of choosing whether and how to pay respects when games resumed.

In a joint statement with the Scottish Professional Football League on Monday, the SFA said: “This week, as a mark of respect and in keeping with the period of national mourning, home clubs may wish to hold a period of silence and/or play the national anthem just ahead of kick-off, and players may wish to wear black armbands.”