Why Heart of Midlothian's Historic Title Tilt Shouldn't Come as a Shock.

HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole unexpected element of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback people seemed when news of the outcome and its consequences for the summit of the standings circulated. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos leading of the league and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of either team this season will have been even remotely shocked 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, turning the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the process. Nine games into the present campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their famous supporters – could be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have so far lost 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this season under their manager. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly consulting his schedule to see how many time are remaining until his deal ends, and awoke this day to discover the number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he told reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is there to try and flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the horrific start to the season being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the fray. Despite being obliged to operate with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. In addition to putting in £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club exclusive use of his top secret data-driven 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 Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed cheering each goal with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his side's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said bearded team manager Derek McInnes after his team's latest victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It could alter opinions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that this club is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in ages, the Scottish game might genuinely have a title race that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.