Why Heart of Midlothian's Historic Title Tilt Shouldn't Come as a Surprise.

JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole unexpected element of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how surprised observers appeared when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the summit of the table circulated. While this convincing victory at their home ground, which puts the Jambos leading of the league and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was seismic in nature, no one who has been following the fortunes of either squad this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

Over the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a joke in the process. Nine games into the present season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that the title holders' comparatively less severe decline has been able to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have so far dropped 10 points from nine fixtures this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly checking his schedule to find out how many time are remaining until his deal ends, and awoke this morning to learn the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time here," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his appetite for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to try and flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the horrific beginning to the campaign being endured 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 capital city challenger has entered the mix. Despite being forced to function with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Brighton owner has provided the club exclusive use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Seen at their home venue on Sunday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each goal with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his side's chances of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager the head coach after his team's most recent success, their eighth win in nine outings. "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're really pleased with what the players have provided us. In terms of skill, we look in a strong position, and certainly in fitness we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." No, Derek, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that somebody besides the traditional powers can claim.