Ex-Rangers boss Graeme Souness brands Celtic ‘the unacceptable face of Scottish football’ in furious rant

Celtic fans' banner during the minute's applause in memory of Queen Elizabeth II. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

Graeme Souness has labelled Celtic “the unacceptable face of Scottish football” in the wake of supporters latest anti-monarchy protests during their Premiership clash with St Mirren on Sunday.

The former Rangers manager issued a criticial assessment of the Scottish champions following a weekened that saw Hoops fans disrupt a minute’s applause in memory of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Supporters chanted and displayed a banner which read, ‘If you hate the Royal Family clap your hands’, just four days after similar scenes took place during their Champions League match against Shakhtar Donetsk in Warsaw.

There has been no attempt to consider even the vaguest context in the anti-monarchy protests of the Celtic support. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

Fans unfurled banners which read: ‘F**K the Crown’ and ‘Sorry for your loss Michael Fagan’, a reference to the intruder who broke into the Queen’s Buckingham Palace bedroom in 1982.

UEFA launched an investigation which will likely see the club suffer yet another punishment from the governing body and Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou refused to comment on the conduct of supporters in Paisley.

Asked how he felt about the fans’ inappropriate signing and their banner, the Australian said: “I addressed all that in two press conferences. I’m not going to do it in three.

“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.”

Souness, who spent five years at Ibrox as both player and manager, vented his anger on talkSPORT this morning.

He said: “Whatever I say on this people will say they expect that because I was employed by Glasgow Rangers and I’m a Rangers fan. But to try to stand back a bit and the eyes of the world were on this country in the last 10 days.

“Celtic now have a major problem because if you’re a major company looking to sponsor a team in Britain or Scotland, would you consider Celtic any more?

“Not at all. And by the decision-makers at Celtic being silent on this matter they’re compounding the problem. This is not just a talking point of Scotland - it’s a talking point throughout the world.

“They have shot themselves in the foot big time. It is a minority who are guilty of this but also a minority that are damaging the brand of Celtic - synonmous with being the first British team to win the European Cup, great success and an absolute institution in Scotland - beyond belief.

Graeme Souness has strongly critcised Celtic's lack of response to their fans' anti-monarchy protests. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

“If you’re a Rangers fan it’s happy days. They want the silence to continue. They’re (Celtic) shooting themselves in the foot. They should have been out days ago condeming this.

“And for everyone who doesn’t like Celtic the music is brilliant and want it to keep going. In the eyes of the world, Celtic are now the unacceptable face of football in Scotland due to a minority of fans.

“The eyes of the world were on Great Britain and I have to stress it’s a minority. I have pals who are Celtic fans and are condeming this so why aren’t the club?”