The Reasons Hearts' Landmark Title Tilt Isn't as a Shock.
HEARTS ON FIRE
Maybe the sole unexpected element of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised observers seemed when news of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the table circulated. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos leading of the table and eight points clear of their rivals, was earth-shattering in nature, nobody who has been tracking the progress of both team this season will have been even remotely shocked by the result.
For each of the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to almost a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the present season it has become clear that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to strike while the Old Firm iron is at its weakest.
THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP
Although much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at Ibrox has resulted in that the title holders' comparatively less severe decay has been able to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have so far lost a considerable number from their opening nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a individual who constantly consulting his Google calendar to find out how many time are remaining until his deal ends, and awoke this morning to discover the number is 246.
"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure here," he informed the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to attempt to flip the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."
EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR
Considering the dreadful beginning to the season being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his players could typically be anticipated to get away with their own inability 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 war-chest that is not just a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the investment and expertise of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership mix. In addition to putting in £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.
In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his team's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets as a result.
COACH'S RESPONSE
"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his team's latest victory, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for those on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have given us. Technically, we appear in a strong position, and definitely physically we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that this club is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that somebody other than Celtic or Rangers can win.
