Perhaps the sole surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised observers seemed when reports of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the table emerged. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the league and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been following the fortunes of either team this season will have been in the least shocked by the result.
For each of the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to something of a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the present campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm iron is freezing cold.
Although much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at their stadium has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to worsen below the radar. The reigning champions have so far dropped a considerable number from nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a man who constantly consulting his schedule to find out how many days are left until his deal ends, and woke up this day to discover the number is over two hundred.
"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure at the club," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to try and flip the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."
Considering the dreadful start to the season being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could normally be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the fray. Despite being forced to function with a war-chest that is not just a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and expertise of a renowned businessman to the SPL equation. As well as investing £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted the club exclusive use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.
In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a person who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his side's chances of defeating the struggling champions, and filled his boots as a result.
"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his side's most recent success, their eighth win in nine league matches. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It may confirm views that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and definitely physically we look in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." No, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that a team other than the traditional powers can claim.
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