Was Scottish football ever in as much pain as this?

Was there ever before such a storm of anger, resentment, bile and bitterness? The decks are absolutely awash with the stuff.

In recent days social media outlets have been on fire with fans baiting and goading one another – and this has been nothing compared to the abuse and haranguing doled out to Scottish football journalists.

I should know, especially. My head has been on about 100 different spikes. So have those of Tom English, Alex Thomson and other commentators who have dared to wade into this seething arena.

The root of it all is the fate of Rangers FC. Since last week’s Court of Session ruling on the club’s use of EBTs – and it might not be the last – there has been an almighty outpouring of feeling.

The fan-on-fan aggro has been quite something. The staggering levels of name-calling and abuse have not reflected well on our football community. Walls are dripping with poison. The wells are brim to overflowing with venom and invective.

Rangers are mired in it. The club started down a risky road and has paid a terrible price. The question now is: what is the balance between punishing Rangers further and showing the club mercy? Or, indeed, coming together to aid its renewal?

The hot issue which is causing everyone’s blood to boil is that of Rangers and title-stripping. Well, it will have to wait a while longer.

The EBTs saga may seem many things – “dodgy” or “dubious” or “tax-dodging” or whatever – but it has not been resolved yet. Last week the Court of Session found Rangers guilty, saying the club had had “an obligation to deduct tax under PAYE” but had not done so.

So far, so fair. But if BDO choose to appeal then the case then goes to the Supreme Court, where this guilty Rangers verdict might be reversed. So title-stripping, if even correct in the first place, is pretty premature.

This hasn’t stopped the acrimony. Fans of other clubs across Scotland – not just those of Celtic – are shouting for Rangers to be punished. They want a whole pile of trophies won by the club – 12 at the last count – between 2001 and 2010 to be expunged.

The supporters of Rangers are not slow to shout back. They are not slow to see perceived witch-hunts and hate-campaigns against them. Some believe – and there is a grain of truth in this – that some of the shouting for title-stripping and much else is little more than a joy-ride for those who detest the Ibrox club.

It is all highly unpleasant. The air is polluted with ill-feeling. The game in Scotland has become poisoned by the so-called Rangers affair.

A London QC, Jo Maugham, has stepped into the den, his cravat seemingly at a squinty angle, and made a colourful contribution with his blogs. Maugham is an authority on certain tax issues but is just as likely to be countered by someone else of equal authority on his subjects. This is the complex terrain we are in.

More than anything, though, I think Maugham has discovered what deep-rooted pain and anger has infiltrated Scottish football as a result of the Rangers case. It is visceral, jugular stuff.

Lynch-mobs are now headed the way of the SFA and the SPFL. Crowds are thronging to see Rangers punished further, or to witness the cowardice and quaking of Scottish football administrators who are too scared to do anything.

That is one interpretation. The other is that the SPFL and SFA must hold their nerve in the eye of the impending storm.

My God, Rangers have suffered. The cruel event of 2012 for those Rangers fans who held up the banner – “History is our heartbeat, No to liquidation” – cannot be underestimated. There is an argument that further punishment of the club is futile and even vindictive.

Meanwhile, the hatred continues, unabated, almost addictive. Scottish football at some stage will need a period of real healing. The anger, the scarring, cannot go on. Football rivalry and bragging – and even time-honoured slander – are one thing. But the hate-fest at some stage must reach its end.

The trouble is, that day looks far away yet.