🔗 Share this article

JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the sole surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback people appeared when reports of the result and its consequences for the top of the table emerged. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos leading of the table and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of either squad this season will have been in the least shocked by the result.

For each of the last four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the current season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

While much of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have already dropped a considerable number from nine fixtures this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly checking his schedule to find out how many time are remaining until his contract expires, and awoke this morning to discover the number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time here," he informed reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is present to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful beginning to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, Rodgers and his men could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. In spite of being obliged to function with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts sole use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed cheering each score with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly realized the bookies had massively misjudged his side's prospects of defeating the struggling title holders, and filled his boots accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his team's most recent success, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and definitely in fitness we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that a team besides the traditional powers can claim.