🔗 Share this article

HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only surprising aspect of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback people appeared when reports of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the table circulated. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which leaves the Edinburgh side leading of the table and eight points clear of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, nobody who has been following the fortunes of both squad this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the result.

Over the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, turning fitba to something of a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the current season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – could be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While a lot of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being suffered by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has meant that Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been able to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have already dropped a considerable number from nine fixtures this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a individual who can't stop checking his schedule to see how many days are remaining until his contract ends, and awoke this day to learn the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he told the media following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is present to attempt to flip the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific beginning to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could normally be expected to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the mix. Despite being obliged to function with a war-chest that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL mix. As well as investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts sole use of his top secret analytics-based 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 Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a modest car. Spotted at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly realized the bookies had greatly underestimated his team's prospects of defeating the struggling champions, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his team's most recent success, their eighth win in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we look in a good place, and definitely in fitness we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might actually have a title race that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can win.