The Ibrox fans are isolated as their club and Hearts refute fixture list conspiracy talk.

Despite the Daily Record’s clear attempt to manufacture a controversy where none really exists, the reaction to the fixture list from both Tynecastle and Ibrox has been extraordinarily sane, sensible and muted.

Nobody at either club has bought into conspiracy talk. Nobody is pushing conspiracy theories. Instead, both clubs have taken on the chin what the fixture list has thrown up. Frankly, it is a mature and reasonable response.

That, in itself, does something very interesting.

It puts the Ibrox support completely on the back foot. When their own club shows no interest in subscribing to their nonsense on this front, where do they go?

Additionally, it leaves Ally McCoist looking isolated and foolish. In truth, he is one of the only people, alongside Ewan Cameron, making any real noise about this at all. Let’s be honest here; when you find yourself standing shoulder to shoulder with Ewan Cameron and almost nobody else, then you have wandered a long way beyond the boundaries of reason.

What is especially striking is how thoroughly the public comments from the clubs themselves have undercut much of the nonsense their angriest supporters want to believe. When you look across at Hearts fan forums, for example, there has been a lot less grumbling, moaning and raving than some people might have expected.

As I pointed out yesterday in the piece I wrote about Derek McInnes and his search for an alibi if this season goes wrong, there is only so far that kind of deflection can take you.

To a certain extent, McInnes has already built his alibi. “Financially outgunned. Nothing to do with me, guvnor. I am just up here trying to compete against two vastly stronger and more financially powerful Glasgow clubs.”

The problem with that line of argument is simple.

Hearts fans do not really buy it. They saw the start of the season and both Glasgow clubs while they were in complete disarray. They saw Hearts take an early lead in the league. Therefore, they know that if Hearts fail to win the title, it will not be because somebody else outspent them. It will be because they threw their chance away.

That is the hard truth of it.

It is not about budgets nor resources. It is not about some vast financial imbalance deciding everything in advance. This is about failing to beat teams like Livingston on the day. It is about not banking an advantage when it was there to be protected. It is about not backing up a strong position with strong performances. Constantly harping on about Glasgow spending power does not explain any of that.

In fact, Hearts fans know perfectly well that Glasgow’s financial advantage was, for a time, badly undermined by the suicidally self-destructive conduct of both Glasgow clubs. In that chaos lay Hearts’ great opportunity, and they have, to an extent, squandered it.

Even so, while McInnes may be trying to shape an alibi for failure, he is at least staying calm. He is remaining focused. Crucially, he is not getting carried away with talk that his club has somehow been hard done by in a darker or more sinister sense. He may want to hide behind the financial power of the Glasgow sides, but he is not alleging undue influence beyond that. To be fair to him, that is to his credit.

Likewise, the Ibrox manager, whose jacket is sitting on an even shakier peg, is not alleging undue influence either.

That leaves only a handful of mad-skulls in the media, men so poisoned by their own outlook that they see conspiracies in their sleep, along with the usual crowd on the Ibrox forums who have been living in that weird netherworld of paranoia for decades and are not about to rejoin reality now.

Still, what this shows is that not everyone in their orbit is willing to wallow in this nonsense.

Those on those forums who were demanding that the club seek explanations, issue statements or take action in its own defence have, I am sure, been sorely disappointed by the club’s extremely tepid response.

It is not often the Ibrox club flirts with sanity to this degree, so it is worth acknowledging when it happens. Equally, the response from Hearts and from Hearts supporters deserves the same recognition.

What has been shown very clearly is that, aside from a few angry lone nuts, most people are handling this with a degree of equanimity.

Most people are looking at the fixture list and seeing both danger and opportunity. More importantly, they are recognising that there was not all that much more the authorities could realistically have done.

As I wrote yesterday, the behaviour of the Ibrox support is part of what has brought us here and part of what keeps Scottish football stuck in the mud. Their instinctive turn towards paranoid nonsense has made it almost impossible for the authorities to consider any other outcome without the prospect of trouble on the streets.

Their own directors might never frame it in exactly those terms. Nevertheless, they must know it. They must hear this delusional rubbish and understand it for what it is. The real issue is not whether they recognise it.

The real issue is whether they are prepared to do anything about it. I doubt it.

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