Have Hearts fans descended into the moral abyss of Ibrox? Or were they always down there?

Last night, while I was preparing the piece on Derek McInnes, I went to have another look at the Hearts fan forums.

I wanted to see what their view on Lawrence Shankland was. Instead, I saw that they continue to rave about Celtic’s title win, how corrupt they think it was, and how they remain convinced something dark and hidden is still waiting to be exposed.

What was amazing about it, absolutely astonishing, was the complete disconnect from reality evident in almost every thread on that site, but one in particular.

For years, Celtic fans have marvelled at the ability of Ibrox supporters to push reality to the far fringes. They always believe their club is one step shy of exposing the dark heart of Scottish football and all the corruption in it.

They always push the idea that it is so obvious to them, it must surely be obvious to the rest of the world.

They are always certain that things in this game are badly askew. They are always sure their club is sitting on some incontrovertible evidence and is simply waiting for the right time to unleash it.

You would think they were the only club on earth that could afford lawyers. You would think they were the only club with a legal department, even if that legal department often seems to spend an awful lot of time doing very little.

You would think they were the only people in football playing for high stakes.

You would never know that the whole game is filled with clubs who believe decisions have gone against them from time to time, and that some of those decisions have even cost them money.

What makes it warped here in Scotland is that the Ibrox fans are so sure they’ve been conned that they can invent literally anything in their heads as to the mechanisms by which it might have happened.

I wrote about one of their fan sites and the incredible piece on it which linked all this back to Celtic hiring John Reid. But that is not the only example. These are, after all, some of the same fans who believed there might be a case for involving the FBI in investigating Scottish football because their owners are American.

I thought that might be the craziest thing I would read on any fan forum this year.

But Hearts fans have actually topped it.

Some of them believe the corruption is so obvious that it must involve brown paper bags and backhanders. They want their club to report it to Police Scotland or the Serious Fraud Office so it can be investigated properly.

They offer no evidence for this wild claim.

Of course they don’t.

But a lot of them appear to believe it.

One guy posting on one of their forums talked about Andrew Dallas and his father’s “known Celtic sympathies.”

If that’s known, I don’t know how I’ve missed it all these years.

The same poster accepts that John Beaton is probably an Ibrox fan. I wonder what gave that away? But the knots these people tie themselves in to convince themselves the conspiracy is real are every bit as bizarre as anything you’ll read on an Ibrox fan site.

At the heart of it all are two things.

The first is the silence from their club since they released their bizarre second statement.

The second is the certainty these people have that the silence must be hiding something, that Hearts are working away behind the scenes to expose the scam once and for all.

There was talk about High Court injunctions to preserve evidence.

Evidence of what?

They do not know.

One mad theory is that Sky’s footage was put under lock and key after a court order, as if Sky’s footage is not available all across the internet. As if Sky did not broadcast that footage to the whole world already.

Now, apparently, that footage contains some great secret people want kept quiet, and Hearts have taken out a court order to stop it being destroyed.

What kind of mind comes up with that?

Not even the Ibrox fans are this desperate.

Not even they are this insane about this stuff.

It is amazing to read some of this on fan forums where, not too long ago, they were debating normal things: football, results, performances, players. Now some of them have convinced themselves their club has been the victim of a gigantic conspiracy launched out of Celtic Park involving actual bribery and actual corruption.

They are not even alleging favouritism.

That is what’s amazing about it.

They are alleging people have been paid off.

It is incredible.

Here’s what I wonder.

Is it the title loss that has broken these people, or were they always like this? Am I only finding out now because this is the first time I have looked through the keyhole into their world?

Are they, in fact, every bit as warped, mad and paranoid as their Glasgow cousins?

Or is this new?

Is this what happens when you get so close to the prize that you can feel your fingers on it, only to lose your grip at the last second?

Because I can sort of understand that.

I can relate to the pain of it.

It must be tough.

But then I think about Tynecastle fans wearing masks of the guy who attacked Neil Lennon, and I see in that the genesis of the hatred and entitlement that can spiral into this kind of madness.

As I said in the previous piece last week, it is impossible to feel sympathy for them at this point. They are lost in a kind of heightened fury and paranoia over there.

It is no less horrible to read than some of what appears on Ibrox forums.

But, and this is where I have to make a confession, it is no less funny either.

They live on another planet.

The real issue here is that the club itself has allowed this vacuum to exist.

If Hearts had come out after the SFA audio, accepted the result, drawn a line under the controversy and told their fans they were turning towards next season, maybe some of this would have cooled. Maybe the more fevered elements would still have ranted, because those people always do, but at least the club would have given the adults in the room somewhere to stand.

Instead, silence.

No clear explanation.

No grown-up acceptance.

No leadership.

And into that silence have poured every fantasy imaginable.

Police Scotland.

The Serious Fraud Office.

High Court injunctions.

Hidden Sky footage.

Brown paper bags.

Backhanders.

Dallas family Celtic sympathies.

It would be hilarious if it was not also a little disturbing.

Because this is what grievance does when nobody in authority has the courage to close the door on it. It mutates. It spreads. It turns disappointment into persecution and failure into fraud.

Hearts came to Celtic Park needing a draw.

They did not get it.

That is not a conspiracy.

That is football.

Everything else is just the sound of people refusing to face it.

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