🔗 Share this article

JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only unexpected aspect of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback observers appeared when reports of the result and its impact for the top of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which leaves the Edinburgh side leading of the table and eight points ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been following the fortunes of either team this campaign will have been in the least shocked by the final score.

Over the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a joke in the process. Several matches into the current campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

While much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have already lost a considerable number from nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a man who can't stop consulting his schedule to find out how many time are left until his deal expires, and woke up this day to learn the number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure here," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a title fight. "Therefore the drive is there to try and flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the horrific start to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the fray. In spite of 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 investment and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club sole use of his top secret data-driven Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a modest car. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed cheering each goal with the gusto of a person who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his side's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's latest success, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It could alter opinions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we look in a good place, and certainly physically we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, data-driven truth is that for the first time in ages, the Scottish game might genuinely have a championship battle that somebody besides the traditional powers can win.