🔗 Share this article

HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only surprising element of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback observers seemed when reports of the outcome and its impact for the top of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos top of the table and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in nature, nobody who has been following the progress of either team this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

For each of the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the current season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to strike while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

While much of the focus in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been able to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far dropped 10 points from their opening nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss 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 expires, and awoke this morning to discover the answer is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure here," he informed reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful beginning to the season being experienced 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 Edinburgh disruptor has entered the fray. Despite being obliged to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and expertise of a renowned businessman to the SPL mix. In addition to investing £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts sole use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to unearth unpolished gems 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. Spotted at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed cheering each goal with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his side's chances of defeating the struggling champions, and filled his boots as a result.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his team's latest success, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. Technically, we look in a good place, and certainly in fitness we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Of course, it's not a position that this club is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the glorious, data-driven truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might genuinely have a championship battle that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can win.