It's been a Celtic season full of things they didn't see coming but such is life in the theme park – Hugh Keevins

What the SFA have done by handing Brendan Rodgers a suspended sentence for calling match officials “incompetent” is complete the construction of a theme park for conspiracy theorists.

The work was started by their co-architects, the SPFL, when they rearranged Rangers’ postponed game against Dundee for the Wednesday after the Old Firm derby next weekend. Celtic fans claimed that decision was based on bias and intended to keep Rangers’ players fresh for the Ibrox showdown.

Rangers fans now believe Celtic’s manager was shown leniency at his disciplinary hearing to ensure he’d be in the dugout opposite Philippe Clement for next weekend’s vital derby. The SFA went for compromise with Rodgers. Old Firm fans only understand conflict. Such as the row caused by appointing referee Don Robertson to take charge of Celtic’s game at Livingston this afternoon, three days after Rodgers was tried for suggesting the official was incompetent when Celtic lost at Tynecastle on March 3.

Some might say that’s pure coincidence. Most of the Celtic support will call it provocative. Now the only way the situation can be made even worse would be to appoint John Beaton to referee next Sunday’s game between the clubs. They couldn’t, could they? A toxic tone has been set for the remainder of a season in which the two main prizes, the league title and the Scottish Cup, will be decided by games between Celtic and Rangers.

It is an atmosphere that is unhealthy and unattractive but unavoidable at the same time. The SFA and the SPFL have pandered to the paranoid by their decision-making because Old Firm fans look at life with a suspicious mind and the resolute intention of trusting no one. At least it has brought them back to life. Celtic and Rangers