🔗 Share this article

JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the only unexpected element of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback people appeared when reports of the result and its consequences for the top of the standings emerged. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Jambos leading of the league and eight points ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been following the fortunes of either team this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

Over the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to something of a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the present campaign it has become clear that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their famous supporters – could be prepared to strike while the Old Firm iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at their stadium has meant that the title holders' comparatively less severe decay has been able to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far dropped 10 points from their opening nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly consulting his schedule to find out how many time are left until his contract ends, and woke up this day to discover the answer is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he informed reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to try and reverse the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful start to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, Rodgers and his men could normally be expected to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the fray. Despite being obliged to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. As well as putting in £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided the club sole use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on matchday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly realized the bookies had massively misjudged his side's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's most recent victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and definitely physically we look in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Of course, it's not a position that this club is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that somebody other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.