🔗 Share this article

HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole surprising aspect of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised people appeared when news of the outcome and its consequences for the summit of the standings emerged. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos leading of the table and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, nobody who has been following the progress of either team this season will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

For each of the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to something of a punchline in the process. Nine games into the current season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their famous supporters – could be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

Although much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far lost 10 points from nine fixtures this season under their manager. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who can't stop consulting his Google calendar to find out how many time are remaining until his contract expires, and woke up this morning to learn the answer is 246.

"I've never worked harder in all my time at the club," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to try and flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific start to the campaign being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could normally be expected to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. Despite being obliged to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have added the money and expertise of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership equation. In addition to putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts exclusive use of his top secret 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 Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed cheering each score with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his team's prospects of beating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said bearded team manager the head coach after his side's most recent victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It might change perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and certainly physically we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that this club is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that somebody other than Celtic or Rangers can win.