Why Hearts' Historic Championship Challenge Isn't as a Shock.

JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only unexpected aspect of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback observers seemed when reports of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the table circulated. While this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos leading of the table and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in scale, no one who has been following the progress of both squad this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

For each of the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to almost a punchline in the process. Nine games into the current season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

While a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been able to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have already lost a considerable number from their opening nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the distant look of a man who constantly checking his Google calendar to see how many time are remaining until his deal ends, and awoke this day to discover the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he told the media following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to try and reverse the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful start to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be expected to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the mix. In spite of being obliged to function with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club exclusive use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to discover hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at their home venue on matchday sporting a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his side's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his team's latest victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "It might be for others on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and certainly physically we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that a team other than the traditional powers can win.