🔗 Share this article

HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only unexpected aspect of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised people appeared when reports of the result and its consequences for the summit of the table emerged. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos leading of the table and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was earth-shattering in scale, no one who has been following the progress of both squad this season will have been in the least shocked by the final score.

Over the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to something of a joke in the process. Nine games into the current season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

Although a lot of the attention 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 slightly less terminal decline has been able to worsen below the radar. The reigning champions have already lost 10 points from their opening nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the distant look of a man who constantly consulting his schedule to see how many days are remaining until his deal ends, and woke up this morning to learn the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he informed reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the horrific beginning to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, Rodgers and his men could typically be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to start strongly, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the mix. Despite being forced to function with a war-chest that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. In addition to putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts exclusive 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 discover hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen cheering each score with the gusto of a man who had likely realized the bookies had greatly misjudged his side's prospects of beating the struggling champions, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's latest success, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It could alter opinions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we look in a good place, and certainly physically we look in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that this club is used to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can win.