Why Hearts' Historic Championship Challenge Shouldn't Come as a Shock.

HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only unexpected aspect of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback people appeared when news of the result and its consequences for the top of the standings circulated. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos leading of the league and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of both squad this season will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

Over the last four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish football between them, turning fitba to something of a punchline in the process. Several matches into the present campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While a lot of the focus in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have so far dropped 10 points from their opening nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a individual who can't stop checking his schedule to find out how many time are left until his contract expires, and awoke this morning to learn the number is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time here," he informed the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his appetite for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to attempt to reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the horrific start to the season being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men 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 entered the fray. In spite of being forced to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the investment and expertise of a renowned businessman to the SPL equation. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Brighton owner has provided the club sole use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

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 combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen cheering each goal with the gusto of a person who had likely realized the bookies had greatly misjudged his team's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots as a result.

COACH'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his team's latest success, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for others on the periphery. 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. Technically, we look in a good place, and definitely in fitness we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can win.