🔗 Share this article

JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole surprising element of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how surprised people appeared when news of the result and its consequences for the top of the standings emerged. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Jambos top of the league and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been following the fortunes of both team this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

For each of the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the present campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who count Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

Although a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have so far lost 10 points from their opening nine league games this term under their manager. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly consulting his schedule to find out how many time are left until his contract expires, and woke up this morning to discover the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he informed reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is present to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful start to the campaign being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his players could normally be expected to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. In spite of being obliged to function with a war-chest that is not just a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts sole use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to discover hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed cheering each score with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly realized the bookies had greatly misjudged his team'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 the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's latest victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and definitely physically we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position 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 ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that somebody besides the traditional powers can win.