🔗 Share this article

JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole surprising aspect of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback observers appeared when news of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the table emerged. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Jambos top of the table and eight points clear of their rivals, was earth-shattering in nature, nobody who has been following the progress of either squad this campaign will have been in the least shocked by the final score.

Over the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to something of a punchline in the process. Nine games into the current campaign it has become clear that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While much of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been able to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have already dropped a considerable number from their opening nine fixtures this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a man who constantly consulting his Google calendar to see how many time are remaining until his contract ends, and woke up this day to discover the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time at the club," he told the media following the loss, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is present to try and flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful start to the campaign being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could typically be anticipated to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the fray. In spite of being forced to operate with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have added the money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed cheering each goal with the gusto of a person who had likely realized the bookies had massively underestimated his side's prospects of defeating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded 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 might change perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. Technically, we look in a good place, and certainly in fitness we look in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.