🔗 Share this article

JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the sole unexpected element of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback observers appeared when reports of the result and its impact for the top of the table emerged. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the league and eight points ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of both squad this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

Over the last 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to almost a joke in the process. Several matches into the present season it has become apparent that Hearts – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been able to worsen below the radar. The reigning champions have already dropped 10 points from their opening nine league games this season under their manager. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who can't stop checking his Google calendar to find out how many days are remaining until his deal expires, and woke up this morning to learn the number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he informed reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his appetite for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to try and reverse the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the horrific beginning to the season being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his men could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the fray. In spite of being obliged to operate with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. In addition to investing £10m during the off-season, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts sole use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen cheering each score with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his team's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a statement win," said bearded team manager the head coach after his side's most recent success, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for those on the periphery. It might change opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and definitely in fitness we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." No, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that a team other than the traditional powers can claim.