Why Hearts' Historic Title Tilt Shouldn't Come as a Surprise.

JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole surprising element of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback observers seemed when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the summit of the standings emerged. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos top of the league and eight points clear of Celtic, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been following the fortunes of either team this season will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

Over the last 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to almost a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the present campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

Although a lot of the focus in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been able to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have already lost a considerable number from their opening nine fixtures this term under their manager. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who can't stop consulting his schedule to find out how many days are left until his deal expires, and awoke this morning to discover the answer is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he told the media following the loss, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to attempt to reverse the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful start to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, Rodgers and his men could typically be expected to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the mix. Despite being forced to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and expertise of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership mix. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Brighton owner has granted the club exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a modest car. Seen at their home venue on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed cheering each goal with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly noticed the bookies had greatly underestimated his side's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said bearded Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's most recent success, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for those on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have given us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and definitely physically we look in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that this club is used to being in." No, Derek, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, the Scottish game might genuinely have a championship battle that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.