🔗 Share this article

JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the sole unexpected aspect of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback people seemed when reports of the outcome and its impact for the top of the standings emerged. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos top of the league and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, nobody who has been tracking the progress of both team this season will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

Over the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a joke in the process. Several matches into the present season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to strike while the Old Firm iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

Although a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at their stadium has meant that Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been able to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far dropped a considerable number from nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a man who can't stop consulting his Google calendar to find out how many time are left until his contract expires, and woke up this morning to discover the number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure here," he informed reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for any kind of a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to try and flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful beginning to the campaign 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 capital city challenger has joined the fray. Despite being forced to function with a budget that is not just a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the investment and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL equation. In addition to putting in £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided the club sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly realized the bookies had greatly underestimated his team's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his team's latest victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and certainly physically we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the wonderful, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might genuinely have a title race that a team besides the traditional powers can win.