🔗 Share this article

JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the sole surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised observers seemed when news of the result and its consequences for the summit of the standings circulated. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the league and eight points ahead of their rivals, was earth-shattering in scale, no one who has been following the fortunes of either team this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

For each of the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, turning the beautiful game to almost a joke in the process. Several matches into the present campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

Although a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been allowed to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have already lost 10 points from nine fixtures this term under their manager. The team's boss has developed the distant look of a man who constantly checking his Google calendar to see how many days are remaining until his contract expires, and awoke this day to discover the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure here," he informed the media 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 levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the horrific start to the campaign being experienced by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. Despite being obliged to function with a war-chest that is not just a small portion of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. In addition to putting in £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover hidden talents from Walsall, 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 their home venue on matchday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had likely realized the bookies had greatly underestimated his team's chances of beating the struggling champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's latest victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. In terms of skill, we look in a strong position, and certainly in fitness we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that a team besides the traditional powers can win.