🔗 Share this article

HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only surprising aspect of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was just how surprised people appeared when news of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the table emerged. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the table and eight points ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been following the fortunes of both squad this season will have been in the least astonished by the result.

Over the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to almost a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the current season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that the title holders' comparatively less severe decline has been able to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have so far dropped 10 points from nine fixtures this season under their manager. The team's boss has acquired the distant look of a individual who constantly consulting his Google calendar to see how many days are remaining until his contract expires, 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 the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his appetite for any kind of a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to try and flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful start to the campaign being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could typically be anticipated to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the mix. In spite of being obliged to operate with a budget that is not just a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. In addition to putting in £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted the club sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to unearth unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be seen cheering each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely realized the bookies had greatly underestimated his team's prospects of beating the struggling champions, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his team's latest success, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It might change opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we look in a strong position, and definitely physically we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, data-driven truth is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that somebody other than Celtic or Rangers can win.