Dundee United fans mock Queen’s death during minute’s silence at Rangers

Dundee United fans at Ibrox (Ronnie Esplin/PA)

Dundee United fans disrupted the minute’s silence in memory of the Queen before Saturday’s Premiership game against Rangers at Ibrox.

Rangers had confirmed they planned the tribute for their home game, along with the singing of the national anthem before kick-off.

However, boos and chanting could be heard emanating from the corner of the stadium which housed several hundred Dundee United fans.

Chants of “Lizzie’s in a box” could be heard, which brought boos from some in the home support towards United fans after the national anthem.

The Scottish Football Association postponed all matches last weekend in the wake of the Queen’s death and gave clubs the option of choosing whether and how to pay respects when games resume this weekend.

Rangers werer playing at home on Saturday, days after defying Uefa by playing God Save the King ahead of their Champions League defeat by Napoli, straight after a minute’s silence.

In a joint statement with the Scottish Professional Football League on Monday, the SFA said: “This week, as a mark of respect and in keeping with the period of national mourning, home clubs may wish to hold a period of silence and/or play the national anthem just ahead of kick-off, and players may wish to wear black armbands.”

It comes after Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou expressed his wish for supporters to respect a minute’s applause in memory of the Queen before Sunday’s game against St Mirren.

The Paisley club confirmed they planned the tribute for their home game, which comes days after Celtic became the subject of Uefa disciplinary proceedings after supporters displayed an anti-Crown banner during Wednesday’s Champions League draw against Shakhtar Donetsk.

When asked if he had a message for supporters ahead of Sunday’s planned tribute, 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.

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“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.”

One banner among Celtic supporters in Warsaw declared ‘F*** the Crown’ while another read ‘Sorry for your loss Michael Fagan’, a reference to the intruder who broke into the Queen’s Buckingham Palace bedroom in 1982.

Supporters also expressed anti-monarchy sentiments in song. There had been no minute’s silence before the game but both sets of teams wore black armbands.

St Johnstone and Hibernian announced earlier in the week they would hold a minute’s applause before their home Premiership games on Saturday while Championship side Partick Thistle will do the same before hosting Cove Rangers.