🔗 Share this article

HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole surprising element of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was just how surprised observers appeared when news of the result and its consequences for the top of the standings circulated. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side leading of the league and eight points clear of their rivals, was seismic in nature, no one who has been following the progress of either team this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the result.

Over the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to almost a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the current season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While a lot of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been able to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have already dropped a considerable number from their opening 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 find out how many time are left until his contract ends, and woke up this day to discover the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure here," he told reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is present to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the horrific start to the campaign being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his men could typically be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has joined the mix. In spite of being forced to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to discover 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. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each goal with the gusto of a man who had likely realized the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his team's prospects of defeating the struggling champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his team's latest success, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for others on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have given us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the wonderful, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in ages, the Scottish game might genuinely have a championship battle that somebody besides the traditional powers can claim.