🔗 Share this article

HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only surprising element of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how surprised observers seemed when reports of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the table emerged. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the league and eight points ahead of Celtic, 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 the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, turning the beautiful game to almost a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the current season it has become clear that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy 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

Although a lot of the focus in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been allowed to fester unnoticed. The reigning champions have already lost a considerable number from their opening nine league games this season under their manager. The team's boss has developed the distant look of a man who can't stop consulting his Google calendar to find out how many days are remaining until his contract expires, and woke up this day to discover the number is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he told reporters following the loss, after they had questioned his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is present to try and reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful start to the season being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss 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 entered the mix. 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, Hearts have introduced the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as putting in £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club exclusive use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed cheering each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly realized the bookies had greatly misjudged his side's chances of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's latest victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have provided us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and definitely in fitness we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that this club is used to being in." No, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might actually have a title race that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can win.