Ange Postecoglou has reiterated his call for Celtic fans to respect the minute’s applause for the Queen planned before kick-off against St Mirren in Paisley on Sunday.
The Parkhead club are already in the dock with UEFA after supporters unfurled anti-monarchy banners in Wednesday’s Champions League draw with Shakhtar Donetsk in Poland. Hoops chiefs are hoping to avoid any further embarrassment at the SMISA Stadium this weekend as clubs all over the country prepare to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s death last week and funeral on Monday.
Postecoglou said: “I have the same message to our fans that we always have. As I said before the game (against Shakhtar), we will abide by the protocols. We wore black armbands on Wednesday night. I think there’s a minute’s applause, we will abide by whatever obligations and responsibilities we have as a football club. We will do that in a respectful manner. We want our supporters to do the same.”
Saints boss Stephen Robinson echoed the sentiment and said: “I can only speak for us as a football club and myself. We’ll be showing our utmost respect. We just hope everybody is respectful.”
Celts are sweating over a UEFA rap after the fan behaviour in Poland – which included a banner saying ‘F*** the Crown’. Postecoglou said: “With all these things there are regulations and authorities in charge and that’s why they’re called investigations.
“If it’s proven that we did the wrong thing and there are ramifications, we’ve got to accept those ramifications. We represent a large supporter base worldwide and we want to do things in the most respectful way that portrays our football club in the right light. Whatever you do you should be allowed to express whatever opinion or feeling you have.”
Postecoglou doesn’t want any distractions from the stands as his side look to build on their sensational start to the league season. Celtic have clattered 25 goals in six consecutive wins and the manager is convinced there will be no after-effects from the Champions League glamour clashes with Real Madrid and Shakhtar.
He said: “It’s no different challenge for us. It’s the same challenge irrespective of who we’re playing against. I think we’ve shown this year we want to make sure we are the best we can be – that’s whether it’s the Champions League, the league or the cup competitions.
“We have been pretty consistent in our approach of the next game being the most important and we want to put our best foot forward again. St Mirren’s form has been pretty good this year and we know it’s a tough place to go, as we saw last year. From our perspective, we’ve started the league campaign really strongly and we want to continue that trend.”
Celtic stumbled to a 0-0 draw in Paisley last season when Postecoglou’s squad was being stretched to the limit. The Aussie has the luxury of plenty of options this weekend but admitted OIiver Abildgaard is likely to be held back until after the impending international break.
Postecoglou said: “We’re still looking at how we’ve washed up from Wednesday but no one has flagged and everyone is available. I’ll have a look but we’ve worked hard to get a strong enough squad so if we need to make changes then the levels don’t drop.
“With the international break coming we can put out a really strong team and hopefully maintain the performance levels. Abildgaard? Not at this stage. He missed pre-season and wasn’t working with a club.We’re hoping with the International break and spending two weeks with him he’ll be in better shape.”
