🔗 Share this article

HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only surprising aspect of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which surprised people appeared when news of the outcome and its consequences for the summit of the table emerged. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos leading of the table and eight points ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in nature, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of both team this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

For each of the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to almost a punchline in the process. Several matches into the present season it has become clear that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

While a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have already dropped a considerable number from nine fixtures this season under their manager. The team's boss has developed the distant look of a individual who constantly consulting his schedule to find out how many time are left until his deal expires, and awoke this morning to learn the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in all my time at the club," he told the media following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to attempt to reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful start to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the fray. Despite being forced to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have added the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as investing £10m during the off-season, the Brighton owner has granted the club exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, 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 Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly realized the bookies had greatly misjudged his side's chances of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's most recent success, their eighth in nine league matches. "It might be for those on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm views that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and definitely in fitness we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." No, Derek, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that a team besides the traditional powers can win.