Roddy Collins is not best pleased with how the British media have handled the controversy surrounding Celtic fans since the death of the Queen.
Sky Sports producers were reportedly instructed to turn down the volume of the Celtic fans before their SPL clash with St Mirren on Sunday, for fear of disrespectful chants about the late monarch.
This came after a banner was spotted in the Celtic end at their Champions League game against Shakhtar Donetsk which read "FUCK THE CROWN".
BT Sport issued an official apology for the banner on their coverage of the game.
Ultimately, Celtic fans could still be heard chanting about the Royal Family during the minute's applause for the Queen on Sunday.
Minute's applause impeccably observed by the Celtic fans. pic.twitter.com/oZfXebvene
— GrieveWatch (@GrieveWatch) September 18, 2022
Sky would quickly apologise for any offence caused by the chanting.
Former Bohemians and Shamrock Rovers boss Roddy Collins has responded to the media coverage of Celtic in his weekly column for the Daily Star, saying he would even be cancelling his Sky subscription as a result.
Roddy Collins "pissed off" at media coverage of Celtic
Roddy Collins took aim at Sky, Simon Jordan, UEFA and more for their targeting of Celtic supporters in the aftermath of the Queen's death. He said:
I'll be cancelling my Sky account this week.
To hear them apologise yesterday for the behaviour of Celtic supporters really pissed me off.
800 years of oppression and there is a certain cohort that wants us to just suck it up and go away.
I thought I’d heard it all when Simon Jordan, a former Crystal Palace chairman, threw his toys out of the pram last week.
He wants Uefa to punish Celtic fans for chanting ‘F*** the crown’ during their Champions League match.
Collins went on to point out that he does not condone the chants heard from the Celtic end, or from the Shamrock Rovers fans during their Europa Conference League game last week.
Nonetheless, he reiterated that he found the decision to vilify those not swept up by the wave of mourning across the UK ridiculous. He also pointed out that the clubs themselves cannot control what their fans sing from the stands.
Roddy Collins would go on to note that fans of other clubs have avoided media attention for similarly questionable chants in recent years. He suggested that the vilifcation of Celtic and Liverpool fans stems from an "anti-Irish sentiment" in the UK.
As for Ibrox at the weekend, I didn’t hear anyone condemn the Rangers fans’ songs about the famine.
The banner that hung from the away section in Warsaw last week wouldn’t be how I’d word my views on the English crown, opposed as I am to monarchy.
But there are a large number of Celtic fans who would feel strongly against the royals.
There was a huge backlash at the postponement of matches last week.
Roddy Collins is one of the first major figures to come to the defence of Celtic amid the media frenzy surrounding their fans.
With the official national period of mourning coming to an end with the Queen's funeral on Monday, we can hope that the frenzy may come to an end soon.
The decision by the Scottish FA to hold a minute's applause before their game with Ukraine on Wednesday, however, may only light the touch paper once more.
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