The Reasons Hearts' Historic Championship Challenge Shouldn't Come as a Shock.
JAMBOS BLAZING
Maybe the only unexpected aspect of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was just how surprised observers appeared when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the table circulated. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos top of the league and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was earth-shattering in scale, nobody who has been following the progress of either squad this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the result.
For each of the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to almost a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the current campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their famous supporters – could be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.
CELTIC'S SLUMP
Although much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at their stadium has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have already dropped 10 points 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 woke up this morning to learn the number is over two hundred.
"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he told reporters following the loss, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."
EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR
Considering the dreadful start to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss 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. In spite of being obliged to function with a budget that is not just 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 mix. As well as putting in £10m during the off-season, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.
In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen cheering each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely realized the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his side's chances of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and filled his boots accordingly.
MANAGER'S REACTION
"I don't think it's a statement win," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's latest success, their eighth win in nine league matches. "It might be for others on the periphery. It might change opinions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, this is not a situation that this club is used to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.