🔗 Share this article

JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the sole unexpected element of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised people appeared when news of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which puts the Jambos leading of the league and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was earth-shattering in nature, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of both squad this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

Over the last four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the process. Several matches into the present season it has become clear that Hearts – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to strike while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in 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 league games this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who can't stop consulting his Google calendar to see how many days are left until his contract expires, and woke up this day to learn the number is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to try and flip the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the horrific start to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his players could typically be anticipated to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the mix. In spite of being forced to function with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. In addition to investing £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts sole use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each goal with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly realized the bookies had greatly misjudged his team's chances of defeating the struggling title holders, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his team's latest success, their eighth in nine league matches. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm views that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the lads have provided us. In terms of skill, we look in a good place, and certainly physically we look 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, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality 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.