🔗 Share this article

HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only unexpected aspect of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback people seemed when news of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the table circulated. While this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the table and eight points clear of their rivals, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been following the progress of both team this season will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

Over the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to something of a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the current campaign it has become clear that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to strike while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While a lot of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has resulted in that the title holders' comparatively less severe decay has been able to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have so far dropped a considerable number from their opening nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the distant look of a individual who constantly consulting his Google calendar to see how many days are left until his contract expires, and awoke this day to learn the number is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he told the media following the loss, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is present to try and flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the horrific start to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, Rodgers and his men could typically be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. Despite being forced to function with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. As well as investing £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts exclusive use of his top secret data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed celebrating each score with the gusto of a man who had likely realized the bookies had massively underestimated his team's prospects of beating the struggling champions, and filled his boots as a result.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his side's latest victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have provided us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and certainly physically we seem 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, data-driven reality is that for the first time in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that somebody besides the traditional powers can win.