🔗 Share this article

JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only unexpected aspect of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was just how surprised people appeared when reports of the result and its consequences for the top of the table circulated. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side leading of the table and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, no one who has been following the fortunes of either team this season will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

For each of the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the process. Several matches into the current season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to strike while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

Although a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has resulted in that the title holders' comparatively less severe decay has been able to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have already lost 10 points from their opening nine league games this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a individual who constantly checking his Google calendar to find out how many time are remaining until his contract expires, and awoke this morning to learn the number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure here," he informed the media following the loss, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful beginning to the season being experienced by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could normally be expected to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the fray. In spite of being obliged to function with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have introduced the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. In addition to putting in £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club exclusive use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to unearth 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. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen celebrating each score with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his team's prospects of defeating the struggling champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his side's latest victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and definitely physically we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." No, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, data-driven truth is that for the first time in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.