Celtic fans filmed singing 'I hope you die in your sleep Brendan Rodgers, with a bullet from the IRA’
The song, which some Hoops fans previously sang about former Rangers striker Nacho Novo, includes the line: “I hope you die in your sleep Brendan Rodgers, with a bullet from the IRA”. The clip, uploaded onto social media and viewed nearly 170,000 times at the time of writing, shows a gathering of Celtic supporters singing the song in a pub understood to be the Roseburn Bar in Edinburgh before the Ladbrokes Premiership clash between Hearts and the Glasgow club on Wednesday night. Most Celtic fans have condemned the footage, branding it “sick”, “disgusting” and “unacceptable”.One Celtic blogger wrote: “Everyone singing it should be heartily and thoroughly ashamed. It’s a disgusting chant, vile, sick, evil, and those doing it … honestly, what goes through your head?”Fans at Tynecastle on Wednesday night could also be heard singing the pro-IRA songs Boys of the Old Brigade and Broad Black Brimmer.Boys of the Old Brigade has caused issues for the club before, with former club chairman Brian Quinn insisting in 2007 that the song had no place at Celtic Park.Quinn said: “We are not a political organisation. We are a Scottish team proud of our Irish origins but singing about politically historic events and associations has no place in a football stadium.“I have heard Fields of Athenry be called sectarian because it is sung at a football game. If there is anything offensive to anyone we will discourage it. The Boys of the Old Brigade, I believe, is in support to a political event and objective. Again, if it is political intent it has no place here because we are not that kind of organisation.”The following year, UEFA pulled the plug on a probe into Celtic supporters singing the song due to a lack of evidence while police chiefs have warned in the past that fans face arrest for singing the song.
Police have confirmed that they are probing events at the fixture, which Celtic won 2-1 thanks to an injury-time goal from substitute Odsonne Edouard. A spokesperson for Police Scotland confirmed an investigation was under way into reports of sectarian singing, adding: "Police are also investigating reports of coins being thrown from the away stand. Anyone with any relevant information in relation to these incidents should contact police immediately."