🔗 Share this article

HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only surprising aspect of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which surprised observers appeared when reports of the result and its consequences for the summit of the table emerged. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos top of the league and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of both team this season will have been in the least astonished by the result.

For each of the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to almost a punchline in the process. Several matches into the current season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be ready to make their move while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been able to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have so far lost 10 points from nine fixtures this term under their manager. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly checking his Google calendar to find out how many days are left until his contract ends, and woke up this morning to learn the answer is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time at the club," he informed reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a title fight. "So the motivation is present to try and reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful beginning to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could normally be anticipated to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the fray. Despite being obliged to operate with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. As well as investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each goal with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his team's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his team's most recent success, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is 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're really pleased with what the players have provided us. Technically, we appear in a strong position, and certainly in fitness we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can win.