🔗 Share this article

HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was just how surprised people seemed when news of the outcome and its impact for the top of the table emerged. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Jambos top of the league and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was seismic in scale, no one who has been following the fortunes of either team this season will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

Over the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the present season it has become apparent that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

Although much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at their stadium has meant that the title holders' comparatively less severe decline has been able to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have so far dropped a considerable number from nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly consulting his schedule to find out how many time are left until his contract expires, and awoke this morning to learn the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he told reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is present to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful start to the campaign being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could normally be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own inability to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the mix. Despite being forced to function with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have introduced the investment and expertise of a renowned businessman to the SPL equation. In addition to putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club exclusive use of his top secret data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed celebrating each score with the gusto of a man who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his team's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and filled his boots as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager the head coach after his team's latest success, their eighth win in nine league matches. "It might be for others on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we look in a strong position, and certainly physically we look in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that this club is accustomed to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, data-driven truth is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that a team other than the traditional powers can win.