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

HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback observers seemed when news of the result and its consequences for the summit of the table circulated. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the league and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the progress of either squad this season will have been in the least astonished by the result.

For each of the last 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to something of a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the current season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

Although a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been able to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far lost a considerable number from their opening nine league games this term under their manager. The team's boss has developed the thousand-yard stare of a individual who can't stop consulting his Google calendar to see how many time are remaining until his contract expires, and awoke this day to discover the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure at the club," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his appetite for any kind of a title fight. "So the motivation is there 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 season being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his players could typically be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own inability 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 war-chest that is not just a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the money and expertise of a renowned businessman to the SPL mix. In addition to investing £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at their home venue on matchday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed cheering each goal with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly realized the bookies had massively misjudged his team's prospects of defeating the struggling champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's most recent success, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and certainly physically we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might genuinely have a title race that somebody other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.