🔗 Share this article

JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the sole surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback observers seemed when reports of the result and its impact for the top of the standings emerged. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Jambos leading of the table and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been tracking the progress of either squad this season will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

Over the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to almost a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the current campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their famous supporters – could be ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

While much of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been able to fester unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far dropped 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who can't stop checking his schedule to see how many days are remaining until his deal expires, and woke up this morning to discover the number is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he told the media following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is present to attempt to flip the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific start to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be anticipated to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has entered the mix. In spite of being obliged to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have introduced the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. As well as investing £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts sole use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to discover hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at their home venue on matchday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed cheering each score with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his team's prospects of beating the struggling title holders, and filled his boots as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his team's most recent victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. 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 in fitness we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can win.