🔗 Share this article

HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole unexpected aspect of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback observers appeared when reports of the result and its consequences for the summit of the standings emerged. While this convincing victory at their home ground, which puts the Jambos leading of the league and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of both team this season will have been in the least shocked by the final score.

Over the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish football between them, turning fitba to almost a joke in the process. Several matches into the current campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

Although a lot of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have already lost a considerable number from nine league games this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a man who constantly checking his schedule to find out how many days are left until his contract ends, and woke up this day to discover the number is 246.

"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 any kind of a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to attempt to flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful beginning to the season being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be expected to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the mix. In spite of being forced to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the money and expertise of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as putting in £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to discover hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight 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 Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his team's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said bearded Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and certainly physically we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the first time in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that a team besides the traditional powers can claim.