Rangers hero Ally McCoist calls for more action to tackle fans behaviour after ‘sickening’ anti-monarchy protests

Ally McCoist reckons football clubs across the country and matchday authorities must do more to start clamping down on the “sickening” behaviour of fans after a weekend of unsavoury scenes in Scotland.

A section of Celtic supporters have been criticised in recent days for their inappropriate banner display and chants before their matches against Shakhtar Donetsk and St Mirren during tributes for the Queen.

Graeme Souness condemned the Parkhead club for failing to speak out regarding their fans’ conduct and McCoist feels the lack of respect shown is “unforgivable”.

Dundee United supporters also disrupted a minute’s silence ahead of their game against Rangers at Ibrox on Saturday, with chants of “Lizzie’s in a box” heard from the away section of the stadium, which was greeted by loud boos from furious home fans.

The Tayside club stated they are “aware of the action of a small section of the crowd” and that they had “reached out to advise” their supporters in advance of the game about plans for tributes to take place.

McCoist was left unimpressed and highlighted Tottenham defender Eric Dier as an example of where football is going wrong after the England international revealed his family no longer attend away games to due the abuse they receive.

Speaking on talkSPORT, he said: “Recently we’ve seen some sickening behaviour from football supporters just showing a lack of respect.

“That in itself is just so sad and so tragic and no matter what everybody’s views are, when you can’t show respect to someone who has passed, I find it unforgivable.

“I’ve said it (before), we have now got an acceptance of people round about us cursing and swearing and abusing and creating a toxic atmosphere at a sporting event or football match.

“The police for some reason don’t do anything about it. The stewards don’t do anything about it because it’s become acceptable.

“What have we become? A footballer’s mother can’t go to an away ground. Back in the day we all got stick. There was a period when I was getting more stick at home games than away games but generally speaking it was all to do with football.

“Nowadays it’s toxically personal and in some cases it is a minority, of course it is. You hear the minority, the majority you don’t hear.

“I’ll say it again, there’s a youth coming in to areas of football where they should not be welcomed and they should be clamped down. It’s not happening and until it does we’ll be suffering this for a long time.”

McCoist believes social media has influenced how fans behave on a matchday, adding: “The social media and the internet can be a fantastic thing but it can also be one of the darkest places in the world right now.

“My problem with it is we don’t do enough because we can do more to prevent it.”