Ange Postecoglou wants Celtic fans to respect minute's applause for the Queen

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou wants the club’s supporters to be respectful when a minute’s applause is held to mark the passing of Queen Elizabeth ahead of his side’s match against St Mirren this weekend.

The Parkhead club is facing disciplinary action from UEFA after fans unfurled two banners during the Champions League match against Shakhtar Donetsk in Poland earlier this week.

One banner read “F*** the Crown” and a second “Sorry for your loss Michael Fagan”. Fagan 74, broke into Buckingham Palace twice in 1982, managing to enter the Queen’s bedroom.

With domestic football returning this weekend, the Scottish FA has told clubs they can show respect to the monarch before games kick off, and St Mirren have opted for a minute of applause when they host Celtic in a televised match on Sunday.

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson said that he hoped fans of both sides would be respectful of the moment and, when asked if he had a similar message for Celtic fans, Postecoglou said that he wanted them to do the same.

“I have the same message to our fans that we always have,” Postecoglou said. “We abided by the protocols, we wore black armbands on Wednesday night.

“I think there’s a minute’s applause and we’ll abide by whatever obligations and responsibilities we have as a football club.

“We’ll do that in a respectful manner. We want our supporters to do the same.

“I’m not going to speak on behalf of anyone else or supporters. We’ll look after our own club and our own supporters and we’ll do whatever is required, as we have so far, in a fairly respectful way as a football club.”

Celtic go into the game on the back of a strong showing against Shakhtar where a 1-1 draw earned them their first point in the group stage. Asked if he felt that the controversial banners had taken the spotlight away from his team’s performance, the manager said: “Depends on what you are reading or listening to”.

He added: “My focus is on us as a football club and the performance was really strong at the highest level of competition.

We’ve still got some growth to do as a football team in terms of playing at that level on a consistent basis. I was encouraged by our progress but also know that we need to keep improving in those areas.

“We’ll keep representing our football club in the best possible way.”