🔗 Share this article

HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only surprising element of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised people seemed when reports of the result and its consequences for the summit of the table emerged. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos top of the league and eight points clear of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, nobody who has been tracking the progress of either squad this season will have been in the least shocked by the final score.

For each of the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to almost a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the present campaign it has become clear that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While much of the focus in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been able to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have so far dropped a considerable number from their opening nine fixtures this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who can't stop checking his Google calendar to see how many time are left until his contract expires, and woke up this morning to discover the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he told the media following the defeat, after they had questioned 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, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the horrific beginning to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could normally be expected to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. Despite being obliged to operate with a war-chest that is not just a small portion of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have introduced the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. In addition to putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts sole use of his top secret data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at their home venue on matchday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen cheering each goal with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly realized the bookies had greatly misjudged his side's chances of defeating the struggling champions, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his side's most recent success, their eighth in nine league matches. "It might be for those on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and certainly in fitness we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can win.