🔗 Share this article

JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the sole unexpected element of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised people seemed when reports of the result and its consequences for the summit of the table emerged. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Jambos top of the league and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was earth-shattering in scale, nobody who has been tracking the progress of both squad this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the result.

Over the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to almost a joke in the process. Nine games into the current season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

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 situation at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been able to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far dropped 10 points from nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the distant look of a man who can't stop checking his Google calendar to find out how many time are left until his deal ends, and woke up this morning to discover the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he told the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to attempt to reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific start to the season being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could typically be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the fray. In spite of being forced to function with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, 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 summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club sole use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, 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 notoriously astute sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each score with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly noticed the bookies had greatly misjudged his side's prospects of defeating the struggling champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his team's most recent victory, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and definitely in fitness we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that this club is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, the Scottish game might genuinely have a title race that somebody other than the traditional powers can claim.