The Record wants to spend the whole summer on Celtic’s Fir Park penalty.

Yesterday, The Daily Record interviewed one of Motherwell’s players, and he casually mentioned a brand-new angle which had emerged in relation to the penalty kick Celtic got against them in the second-last game of the season.

Obviously, as a Celtic fan and blogger, I was intrigued. What was this new angle? Did it shed some light on the matter that has so far eluded everyone on the internet?

I wanted to know what happened. And of course, nothing happened. There was no “new angle” just an old one which – surprise! – shows a handball. This stuff is pathetic. We’re past the point where it makes any sense to keep this going.

But if you spend as much time on social media as me, and I assure you it is not healthy, you will have seen The Daily Record’s take on this. Their view was that this controversy could last all summer.

Isn’t that something of a desperate statement for a national newspaper to make?

There is a new Celtic manager to appoint. We have new signings to make. We have yet another summer of transformation across the city. They now have Hearts to cover as the alleged second force in the league. There is also the small matter of a World Cup which Scotland just happens to be playing in.

But put all that aside. Apparently, we’re going to focus all our attention on a handball decision which happened to go Celtic’s way.

That should be absurd. It should be too ridiculous for words. But you can absolutely believe this is what our media would choose to focus Scottish football’s attention on.

You can believe they would drag this out for weeks and weeks.

Because yesterday, we passed the two-week mark since the game, and people are still trying to argue that black is white.

They are still trying to argue that this decision cost Hearts the title, as though Hearts did not still have it in their own hands on the final day. Those claiming it was not a penalty do not seem interested in giving up the matter.

Hearts are still nursing the grievance. Motherwell themselves are apparently still nursing it, although it did not cost Motherwell anything.

When you strip it back and consider that, it is pretty extraordinary.

As I’ve said before, both on the podcast and on the blog, if the allegation these people want to pursue is that Scottish football was somehow cheated, not just Hearts and Motherwell but Scottish football itself, then I would prefer they simply say it.

Because this is how they are framing it. They are suggesting the title Celtic won is somehow tainted. Fine. Then put your cards on the table. Let us have that conversation. If they want to talk about tainted titles, we should be very happy to discuss that subject properly.

Which is why I suspect they won’t.

At this stage, it is difficult to know what the purpose of all this is, beyond engagement and clicks. Continuing to keep this story alive clearly serves that end.

But in the court of public opinion, this matter is pretty nearly settled. Those still engaged with it are never going to convince those on the other side that their argument has merit.

At least our side is consistent. At least our side is not changing its mind every five minutes or moving the goalposts. We are clear on what we say happened. It was a penalty.

The ball hit his hand. There is video footage. There are still images which show the ball hitting his hand. We are not trying to turn this into a physics lesson, and their argument is pretty funky.

“Don’t believe the evidence of your eyes. Believe people who don’t know what they’re talking about, trying to lecture you on a scientific theory they scribbled on the back of a napkin.”

That is where we are now.

“The ball could not have travelled that far if it hit him on the hand.”

This is not science. It is pub physics.

They are pretending they can talk intelligently about momentum, but they are treating the ball as though the Motherwell player’s hand had to fire it out of a cannon.

When you point out the utter absurdity of that argument by mentioning the numerous sports which involve using the hand to propel a ball, that is when they pivot.

Then they start talking about the images not being conclusive, although they are pretty conclusive. When you get past that, they start talking about whether every handball in the box should even be a penalty anyway.

The argument shifts depending on their needs at any given moment.

That is not a real argument.

That is a grievance in search of justification.

Let’s strip it back to the bare bones.

If they are saying it is not a clear and obvious penalty kick, then what is all this fuss about? If they are saying there is doubt, then the doubt works both ways. Once you accept that, then this is a subjective decision which may be right and may be wrong.

Is that really worth all this navel-gazing and coverage? Over what is, in fact, simply another debatable call?

That’s when their argument shifts again, and we end up in the whole realm of “but this cost Hearts the title …” which does not stand up to the slightest scrutiny, as everyone knows.

Let me say it again. Hearts came to Celtic Park needing a draw to win the league. That is the very definition of being in control of your own destiny.

If that decision is being held up as the league decider we can point to plenty of evidence that the penalty ought not to have been necessary.

Auston Trusty’s sending off at Tynecastle, which was debatable at best, cost us a victory there. That’s a three-point swing. Trusty’s sending off at Celtic Park against Hibs, also debatable at best, cost us a point at least. There are numerous other decisions which went against Celtic over the course of the campaign.

You could list them until you were blue in the face.

There were also decisions which went in Hearts’ favour over the season, some of them debatable and some of them in crucial games. All of them could be dredged up as proof that the title race was influenced by bad officiating.

But they want to narrow the full focus of Scottish football onto a single incident, as if the whole season pivoted on that moment.

I am not shy about saying this: I think that had Hearts come to Celtic Park needing only to avoid a 3-0 defeat, Celtic would have won this thing anyway.

I firmly believe that had we needed to do that job, we would have started earlier, put them under sustained pressure at a different stage of the game, got the early breakthrough and forced McInnes into a dreadful situation which we would have profited from.

Here’s the funny part; since I cannot prove that I am right about that, nobody can prove I am wrong either. The very fact that we can have that philosophical discussion, the fact that it is even a possible outcome, renders all talk that the decision at Fir Park cost Hearts the title absolutely irrelevant and stupid.

Once you conclude that, and even if you cede these people some ground, it becomes nothing more than another 50-50 decision in a season full of them.

So yes, if The Daily Record wants to stretch this nonsense across a whole summer, great.

But is that really what their subscribers are paying for? For some of them, undoubtedly it is. Keep the grievance alive. Keep the anger fresh. Keep the clicks coming.

But honestly, more than two weeks on?

Isn’t it time these people just got over it?

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