The Reasons Hearts' Historic Championship Challenge Isn't as a Shock.
HEARTS ON FIRE
Perhaps the only surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback observers seemed when reports of the result and its consequences for the top of the table circulated. While this convincing victory at their home ground, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the table and eight points ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of both team this campaign will have been in the least astonished 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. Nine games into the present campaign it has become clear that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.
THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP
While a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have so far lost a considerable number from their opening nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly checking his Google calendar to find out how many time are remaining until his deal expires, and woke up this morning to learn the answer is over two hundred.
"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to try and flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."
EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR
Considering the dreadful start to the season being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be expected to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the fray. Despite being obliged to function with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts sole use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.
In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to unearth unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each goal with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly realized the bookies had massively underestimated his team's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets as a result.
MANAGER'S REACTION
"I don't think it's a statement win," said bearded team manager the head coach after his team's most recent success, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for those on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and certainly in fitness we look in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that this club is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that somebody other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.