Why Hearts' Historic Championship Challenge Isn't as a Shock.

HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised observers 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 Edinburgh side top of the league and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was seismic in nature, no one who has been following the progress of both team this season will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

For each of the last 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the process. Several matches into the present season it has become apparent that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to make their move while the Old Firm iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While much of the focus in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far dropped a considerable number from nine fixtures this season under their manager. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly checking his Google calendar to see how many days are left until his contract expires, and awoke this morning to discover the answer is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time at the club," he informed reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for any kind of a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to attempt to flip the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful beginning to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, Rodgers and his men could normally be anticipated to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. In spite of being forced to function with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. In addition to putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely noticed the bookies had greatly misjudged his team's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's latest success, their eighth in nine league matches. "It might be for others on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might actually have a title race that somebody other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.