Maybe the only unexpected aspect of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised people appeared when news of the outcome and its consequences for the summit of the standings circulated. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the league and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been following the progress of either team this campaign will have been in the least shocked by the result.
For each of the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to almost a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the present campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, 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.
While much of the focus in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at their stadium has meant that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been able to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have already dropped a considerable number from nine fixtures this term under their manager. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who can't stop checking his Google calendar to see how many time are remaining until his contract ends, and woke up this morning to discover the answer is 246.
"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure here," he told the media following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to attempt to reverse the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."
Considering the horrific beginning to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his players could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has joined the mix. In spite of being obliged to operate with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. In addition to putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts sole use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.
In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely noticed the bookies had greatly misjudged his team's chances of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots accordingly.
"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his side's latest victory, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for those on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have provided us. Technically, we look in a good place, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might actually have a title race that a team besides the traditional powers can claim.
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