🔗 Share this article

HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole surprising aspect of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how surprised observers appeared when reports of the result and its consequences for the summit of the table circulated. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the table and eight points clear of Celtic, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been following the fortunes of either squad this season will have been even remotely shocked by the result.

Over the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to almost a joke in the process. Nine games into the current campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

Although much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to worsen below the radar. The reigning champions have already dropped 10 points from nine league games this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a individual who can't stop checking his Google calendar to see how many days are left until his contract ends, and woke up this day to discover the number is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to attempt to flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given 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 entered the fray. In spite of being forced to function with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the money and expertise of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth 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. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his side's prospects of defeating the struggling champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his side's latest victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the outside looking in. It could alter opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the lads have provided us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and definitely physically we look in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that somebody besides the traditional powers can claim.