🔗 Share this article

HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole unexpected element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback observers appeared when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the table circulated. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the league and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the progress of both squad this season will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

Over the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish football between them, turning the beautiful game to almost a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the present campaign it has become clear that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' comparatively less severe decay has been allowed to fester unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far lost 10 points from nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly checking his Google calendar to find out how many time are remaining until his contract ends, and awoke this morning to discover the answer is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he told the media following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful start to the campaign being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could normally be anticipated to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the fray. Despite being obliged to function with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have added the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. As well as putting in £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue 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 almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his team's prospects of beating the struggling champions, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager Derek McInnes after his team's latest victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "It might be for those on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. Technically, we appear in a strong position, and definitely physically we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Of course, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can win.