Moronic Celtic fans who disrespect minute’s silence a scab on face of Scottish football

Celtic end at Rugby Park
Some Celtic fans disrupted the minute’s silence before their away match against Kilmarnock, forcing the referee to curtail it after nine seconds - Shutterstock/Vagelis Georgariou

Does the fact that it happens every year mean that we should simply shrug our shoulders and look the other way? Or worse, should the fact that a tiny portion of the British public object to it mean that we should abandon it altogether in future? Or, even worse, should the catcalls from a bunch of mindless morons mean that we should stop – almost before it’s started – paying a simple national tribute to the men and women who gave their lives for this country?

These are some of the questions that are posed by yet another apparent victory for the lowlifes who pride themselves on disrupting Remembrance Day. The occasion this time was a football match when, as was the case all over Britain, a period of one minute’s silence was decided upon before the kick-off of the game between Kilmarnock and Celtic.

“Oh no you, don’t,” said the slugs in that section of Celtic support – not the majority – when the teams lined up and the ceremony was announced. Booing and worse began immediately and any preamble was quickly curtailed by the referee and the supposed silence got under way. That, however, is an exaggeration as a cretinous crescendo became the order of the afternoon. It came from that group who are pleased to give themselves – but I shall not – a pseudo-military name and who have long proved themselves to be a scab on the face of Scottish football, and none more so than Celtic Football Club.

Credit: PLZSoccer/X

The silence was over almost before it began as the referee, Nick Walsh, blew his whistle after only nine seconds and got the match under way. I can understand why he did it because, given the context, it was a dreadful sight and sound… but I wish, I really wish, he hadn’t.

He might have been seeking to preserve the decent image of Scottish football, or of the teams involved or of the town of Kilmarnock, but better – far better – would have been for the entire country, indeed the entire world, to witness what manner of people these “Silence Deniers” are. They would see and hear the kind of creatures these men are who desecrate, and in such a despicable way, an event that, after all, sought to honour brave compatriots.

And the louder their caterwauling, the better to embarrass themselves and their supposed IRA cause.

In my heart of hearts, I would have loved it, too, if all the blazers from the Celtic hierarchy took the lead in denouncing the behaviour of this section of their support. They constantly claim impotence and while team manager Brendan Rodgers did criticise those who pay his wages, he did seem to reckon that we should have known what to expect from this portion of his teams’ fans.

Did that excuse it? And was he more grateful that the footballing gods had not denied his team a victory over Kilmarnock.

If there was a hero of the affair, it was Derek McInnes, the Kilmarnock manager. He thought the Celtic fans’ behaviour “awful” but in two further comments he spoke for many when he said: “I’m not a politician but it’s our ground. It’s our minute silence. I don’t get why we shouldn’t have the wherewithal just to stand and show a bit of respect for one minute.”

Derek McInnes
Derek McInnes spoke for the many who were disgusted by the actions of some among the visiting supporters at Rugby Park - Andrew Milligan/PA Wire

However, his words will count for nothing with their target. You see, in spite of being one of the best names in Scottish football, one of McInnes’s former clubs was Rangers. And before anyone suggests otherwise, I have often crossed swords with the Ibrox side and their supporters, too.

And while we are on the subject of example, there is no point in looking to politicians for that. Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s Commons leader, attended the Cenotaph ceremony on Remembrance Sunday and for the second year in succession refused to sing the national anthem.

His offence, in my book, was not anything like as disgraceful as were the Celtic fans’ antics in Kilmarnock, but he displayed equally contemptuous behaviour, especially at such an important occasion.

I have seen all manner of SNP leaders in attendance at the Cenotaph – all the way back to the first, Donald Stewart. I would swear on a stack of Bibles that Donald sang the words of the national anthem.

But then Donald Stewart was a Highland Gentleman. ’Nuff said?