Why Heart of Midlothian's Landmark Championship Challenge Isn't as a Shock.

JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only unexpected element of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback people appeared when news of the outcome and its impact for the top of the standings circulated. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos leading of the table and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was seismic in nature, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of either squad this campaign will have been in the least shocked by the result.

Over the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to something of a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the present season it has become apparent that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While much of the focus in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' comparatively less severe decay has been able to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have already lost a considerable number from their opening nine fixtures this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a individual who can't stop consulting his Google calendar to find out how many time are remaining until his contract expires, and awoke this morning to learn the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he told reporters following the loss, after they had questioned his appetite for any kind of a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to attempt to flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the horrific beginning to the season being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could normally be anticipated to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the fray. Despite being forced to operate with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have added the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts sole use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems 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 matchday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen celebrating each goal with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his team's chances of beating the struggling title holders, and filled his boots as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's most recent victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It could alter opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we look in a good place, and certainly in fitness we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the wonderful, analytics-backed 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.