Simon Jordan tore into Celtic fans at Villa Park (Image: talkSPORT)
Simon Jordan has condemned the “disrespectful” chants by fans directed at during the Scottish side’s clash with The giants overcame winners 4-2 at Villa Park to ensure automatic promotion into the Last-16 of the Champions League.
The match turned into a contentious affair as Hoops supporters were heard targeting the Prince of Wales, a Villa fan, and “If you hate the Royal family, clap your hands”. Moreover, a banner displaying a picture of Michael Fagan, who notoriously intruded into the bedroom of Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace, was also spotted in the crowd.
Jordan, 57, defended the right of Celtic fans to chant negatively about the Royal Family, stating anti-royalist chants are “Free speech”. However, taunts about the Queen’s death crossed the line.
He said on TalkSPORT: “It’s freedom of speech, isn’t it? I think they are an irrelevance, but they are entitled to their opinion.
“If you want to sing about the death of a monarch, then there is something wrong with you, but is privy to other people’s opinions on him. Is it treason? Of course, it’s not.
“Is it disrespectful? Yeah. Are the things they say disrespectful? Yeah, but it’s their view. I think it’s distasteful to say those sorts of things. You can be anti-royal, you can not believe in the monarchy – and lots of people do. I’m moderately middle of the road about it.
“I understand the value of the monarchy, but constitutionally, it has very little merit now. That has been the case for hundreds of years.
Prince William was in attendance to watch his beloved Aston Villa win (Image: Getty Images)
“But I don’t sit there and listen to the Celtic fans and think you have anything to say that is of any relevance. You can disagree with something fundamentally without having to be disrespectful, and to talk about the death of a monarch and the challenges of that family in the way they do – I think it indicates a certain mindset.”
Villa roared into a two-goal lead courtesy of a quick-fire, first-half brace from the in-form Morgan Rogers. Yet, Unai Emery’s side lost their advantage in equally fast time as Celtic’s Adam Idah scored two goals in two minutes to level the scores on the stroke of half-time.
Ollie Watkins found a third for Villa in the second half, but his evening will best be remembered for slipping over when pitted with a chance to make the score 4-2 from the penalty spot. It didn’t matter, as Rogers completed his hat-trick in the final exchanges to ensure Villa finished 8th in the table.