The sister of an IRA victim has said that Celtic fans should “grow up” when it comes to heaping praise on a dead Provo.

Anne Hill said the supporters should consider how they would feel if it were one of their loved ones who had been killed.

She also took a dim view of a counter-statement made by Rangers fans.

The Celtic fans had unveiled three large, printed banners at a game on Tuesday night against Aberdeen at Celtic Park, which said McFarlane was an “oglach”, which loosely translates as “soldier”.

placeholder image — Banner circulated by Rangers fans at a game against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park, attacking Bik McFarlane. It is in response to a banner raised by Celtic fans a few days earlier, calling him a hero. Image circulated online by the Twitter account Scottish Football Away Days @days_scottish

The banners added “they said he was a rebel then, he’s a hero now”, followed by the phrase “may he rest in peace” in Irish.

McFarlane was the driver when an IRA team bombed and shot up the Bayardo Bar in west Belfast in 1975, killing five random Protestants.

He is suspected in the murder of two members of the Irish security forces, and was one of the planners behind the violent 1983 Maze prison break.

He was buried on Tuesday, with Sinn Fein praising his life and legacy.

When the News Letter had asked the Scottish police if it was investigating the Celtic banner, it said simply: “No complaints have been received at this time.”

Mrs Hill’s sister Linda Boyle, 17, was one of the Bayardo victims.

According to the book Lost Lives, all five of the victims were civilians (though the Ulster University’s CAIN database lists one of them as a UVF member).

She had spoken to the News Letter earlier in the week about her reaction to McFarlane’s death.

Now she has said of the Celtic banner: “I just think they just need to grow up and be realistc about things, and understand what the word ‘murderer’ means.

"They’re just praising him for murdering people.

"I just think if it was one of their families, one of their sisters or brothers or their father who got murdered by somebody, would they feel the same way? I don’t understand it."

On Wednesday night, at an away match against Kilmarnock, Rangers fans unveiled two banners hitting back at the Celtic ones.

The banners said: “He was a coward then, and he’s a coward now – rot in hell Brendan McFarlane!”

“It’s a bit tit for tat,” said Mrs Hill.

"They’re not thinking of any of the victims or their families and what way they’d feel of all this.

"You’re trying to get peace here, and a wee thing like that here could just spark it all off again.”

Meanwhile today, Scottish Conservative Glasgow MSP Annie Wells said of the McFarlane display: “This disgraceful celebration of terrorism disrespects those murdered by the IRA and will appal bereaved families.

“This glorification of a terrorist has no place in our society and will disgust the vast majority of Celtic fans.”

Scottish Labour and the SNP were also emailed with a request for comment, but none had been received at time of writing.

North Belfast DUP MLA Phillip Brett had earlier said: “That anyone with any sense of morality would seek to define such an individual as a hero is beyond comprehension, but given the display at their stadium, it is incumbent on Celtic Football Club to take immediate action.”