🔗 Share this article

HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only unexpected aspect of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback people appeared when reports of the result and its consequences for the top of the table emerged. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side leading of the league and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was seismic in nature, no one who has been tracking the progress of both team this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

For each of the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to almost a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the current campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their famous supporters – could be prepared to strike while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

While much of the focus in the Scottish game 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 allowed to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have already dropped 10 points from their opening nine league games this season under their manager. The team's boss has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly checking his schedule to see how many time are left until his deal ends, 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 told the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is present to try and flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the horrific beginning 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 entered the mix. In spite of being forced to function with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and expertise of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts exclusive use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at their home venue on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed cheering each goal with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his side's chances of beating the struggling champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "It might be for those on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It might validate opinions that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the players have provided us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and definitely in fitness we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, it's not a position that this club is accustomed to being in." No, Derek, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, Scottish football might actually have a title race that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.