Why Hearts' Landmark Title Tilt Isn't as a Shock.
JAMBOS BLAZING
Perhaps the only unexpected aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how surprised people seemed when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the table circulated. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos top of the table and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been tracking the progress of either team this campaign will have been in the least 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 fitba to almost a punchline in the process. Nine games into the present season it has become clear that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm iron is at its weakest.
THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP
While much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have so far lost a considerable number from their opening nine league games this term under their manager. The team's boss has acquired the distant look of a man who can't stop checking his schedule to see how many time are left until his deal expires, and woke up this day to learn the answer is 246.
"No one has put in more effort in all my time here," he informed reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to try and reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."
NEW CHALLENGER
Given the horrific start to the campaign being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could normally be anticipated to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has entered the fray. Despite being forced to operate with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts sole use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.
In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had likely realized the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his team's prospects of defeating the struggling title holders, and filled his boots 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 side's latest success, their eighth win in nine league matches. "It might be for others on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm views that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. Technically, we appear in a strong position, and definitely physically we look in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in many years, the Scottish game might genuinely have a championship battle that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can win.
