The Daily Record should be condemned for today’s thoroughly irresponsible headline.

There is a kind of timing in journalism that separates the responsible from the reckless. It is not about suppressing stories or ignoring controversy. It is about understanding the moment, reading the room and recognising when certain narratives might pour petrol on a fire that is already burning. The headline in the Daily Record today fails that test completely.

“(Ibrox) see VAR blunder probed as ‘Etch A Sketch’ lines crank creeping title race conspiracy.”

Even setting aside the content for a second, look at the framing. “Creeping title race conspiracy.” That is not neutral language nor cautious reporting. That is a phrase designed to provoke, to inflame and to validate the very worst instincts in a support that, right now, does not need any encouragement in that direction.

And that is the point.

We are not talking about a vacuum here. We are talking about a situation where, in recent weeks, we have seen serious disorder and we have seen violence. All of us have seen the kind of behaviour that should have prompted a period of reflection, of calm, of de-escalation. Instead, what we get is this.

A Daily Record headline that leans into grievance. A headline that amplifies the idea that something is being done to them. One that feeds directly into a siege mentality that already exists and has, at times, spilled over into something far uglier.

You cannot divorce that from what has happened on the ground.

I have written recently about the Union Brats and the culture that surrounds them. About the performative outrage. About the sense of entitlement and the way grievance is cultivated, nurtured and then unleashed.

That culture does not emerge in isolation. It feeds on narrative and reinforcement. It feeds on exactly this kind of coverage.

Because when you tell people, implicitly or explicitly, that they are victims of some grand injustice, you do not get calm, rational responses.

You get anger and resentment. You get people who feel justified in acting out because, in their minds, they are responding to something that has been done to them.

That is how this stuff works. The Daily Record knows this. Or at least it should.

Nobody is saying you cannot question decisions. Nobody is saying you cannot analyse VAR. Football is built on debate and disagreement.

That is part of the game. But there is a difference between analysis and agitation. There is a difference between reporting and stoking.

This crosses that line.

At a moment when tensions are high, when there has already been violence, when there are genuine concerns about supporter behaviour, the responsible approach would be to lower the temperature. To focus on facts. To avoid language that legitimises grievance or feeds conspiracy thinking.

Instead, this headline does the opposite.

It hands a narrative to the angriest elements of that support and says, in effect, “You might be right.”

And once that idea takes hold, it is very difficult to contain.

We have seen this play out before and how quickly a sense of injustice can morph into something more dangerous. We have seen how narratives built in newspapers and on radio shows can echo through stands, through social media, through supporter groups, until they take on a life of their own.

That is not harmless. That is not just “part of the banter.”

This stuff has real-world consequences.

Especially when you are dealing with a support where sections of it have already shown a willingness to cross lines.

Again, the Union Brats are not operating in a vacuum. They exist within a broader culture that too often indulges and excuses this kind of thinking. A culture where grievance is currency. Where outrage is performative. Where every setback becomes evidence of some wider injustice.

Feed that culture and you strengthen it. Challenge it and you m ight, just might, begin to change it. But that requires a level of responsibility that is clearly lacking here.

Because what we have instead is lazy, sensationalist nonsense. It is clickbait dressed up as journalism. It is the kind of thing that looks good in a headline, drives engagement, gets people talking, but does absolutely nothing to improve the situation.

In fact, it makes it worse.

And let’s be blunt about this. There are no shortage of actual issues in Scottish football that deserve scrutiny. There are real questions about governance, about consistency, about standards. If you want to hold authorities to account, there is plenty to work with.

You do not need to resort to language about “creeping conspiracies.”

That is a choice. And it is a bad one.

At the very moment when the game needs a bit of grown-up thinking, a bit of restraint, a bit of perspective, we get headlines like this instead. Headlines that pander to the lowest common denominator. Ones that validate the worst instincts in the room.

It is irresponsible. Worse than that, it is dangerous.

Because words matter. Narratives matter. The way events are framed matters. When you feed grievance into an already volatile situation, you should not be surprised when that volatility increases.

We have seen enough of that already.

The last thing Scottish football needs right now is more fuel on the fire. Yet that is exactly what this kind of coverage provides.

And the people who write at The Daily Record and push it out into the world, cannot pretend they do not understand the impact it has.

They know. They just do not seem to care.

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