Why Hearts' Landmark Title Tilt Isn't as a Shock.

JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole surprising element of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback people appeared when reports of the result and its impact for the summit of the table emerged. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which puts the Jambos top of the table and eight points ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of either team this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

Over the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the process. Several matches into the current campaign it has become clear that Hearts – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to strike while the Old Firm iron is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While much of the focus in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have already dropped 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a man who constantly checking his schedule to find out how many time are left until his contract ends, and woke up this day to learn the answer is 246.

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

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful beginning to the campaign being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be anticipated to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the fray. In spite of being forced to operate with a budget that is not just a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the investment and expertise of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen celebrating each goal with the gusto of a person who had likely realized the bookies had greatly misjudged his side's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and filled his boots as a result.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's most recent victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and certainly physically we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." No, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might actually have a title race that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can win.