Brendan Rodgers admits Remembrance Sunday tribute is an 'issue' for Celtic as fans break minute's silence

Brendan Rodgers insists Celtic fans should have observed the pre-match Remembrance Sunday silence at Rugby Park.

A large section of Hoops supporters booed and sang a song about the death of Aidan McAnespie, who was shot by a British soldier at an Army checkpoint in County Tyrone in 1988. Fireworks were also let off in the away end while the Green Brigade unfurled a banner which read: "From Balfour to Starmer, the crimes of the empire live on, Britain is committing genocide in Gaza."

Referee Nick Walsh was forced to abandon the minute's silence early, while Sky Sports commentator Ian Crocker issued an apology to viewers, saying: "Sorry if you were offended with the disturbance to the silence."

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Rodgers was asked about the protests of the away support and whether fans should have been able to keep quiet for the entire minute. The Northern Irishman admitted the annual tribute is a recurring issue for the Parkhead club as he told Sky Sports: "Yeah, you should be able to [observe the full silence]. It's a minute silence and of course, there's a little bit of issue around that each year for us.

"But I think it was a minute, then you do that. But it's always a difficult one that. It's every year the situation that takes place. But thankfully, we get the win on the football side and we go into the break in a really good place."

On the park, it was business as usual as Celts regained top spot in the Premiership by overcoming dogged Kilmarnock 2-0. Callum McGregor scored moments prior to half-time before in-form Nicolas Kuhn netted to settle the nerves in the second-half. It caps off a brilliant week for the Hoops after also putting Aberdeen and RB Leipzig to the sword.

Rodgers said: "We've had three different games in three different competitions and looked very, very good. We're on the right track. We're showing all the various qualities that you need to win games and different types of games at the very highest level. We came off a performance in midweek that was as good as we've had in both my times here.

"It was so, so good in terms of the football, pressure and opponent. Then you've got to come here and dig in and show those fighting qualities in the duels and be a real team and we've been able to do that. So it's been a fantastic start, hopefully the players from the international come back ok and then we start the real ultra marathon where we start the run of games where we'll need every single member of the squad. At this point, we've made a fantastic start."