The Reasons Hearts' Historic Title Tilt Isn't as a Shock.
HEARTS ON FIRE
Perhaps the sole unexpected element of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback people seemed when news of the result and its consequences for the summit of the table emerged. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos top of the table and eight points ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, no one who has been following the fortunes of either team this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.
Over the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to almost a punchline in the process. Nine games into the present season it has become apparent that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.
THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP
While much of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been able to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far dropped 10 points from nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the distant look of a individual who constantly consulting his schedule to find out how many days are remaining until his deal ends, and awoke this day to learn the answer is over two hundred.
"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he informed the media following the loss, after they had questioned his appetite for any kind of a title fight. "So the motivation is there to try and reverse the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."
NEW CHALLENGER
Considering the horrific start to the campaign being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his men could normally be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the mix. Despite being obliged to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. As well as investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.
In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a modest car. Seen at their home venue on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen cheering each score with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly realized the bookies had massively misjudged his team's chances of beating the struggling champions, and filled his boots accordingly.
COACH'S REACTION
"In my opinion it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his team's most recent success, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the lads have provided us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and certainly physically we look in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in ages, the Scottish game might genuinely have a title race that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.
