🔗 Share this article

HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only surprising aspect of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback people seemed when news of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the table emerged. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Jambos leading of the table and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been tracking the progress of both team this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the result.

For each of the last four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to almost a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the current campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – could be ready to strike while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' comparatively less severe decline has been able to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have already dropped a considerable number from their opening nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who can't stop checking his schedule to see how many days are left until his deal ends, and woke up this day to discover the answer is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he told reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for any kind of a title fight. "Therefore the drive is there to try and reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the horrific beginning to the season being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the fray. In spite of being forced to function with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as investing £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts sole use of his top secret data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a modest car. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen cheering each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his side's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his team's latest victory, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It might validate views 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 strong position, and definitely physically we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." No, Derek, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might actually have a championship battle that a team besides the traditional powers can claim.