The Reasons Hearts' Landmark Title Tilt Isn't as a Surprise.
JAMBOS BLAZING
Maybe the sole unexpected aspect of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how surprised people appeared when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the table emerged. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which puts the Jambos leading of the league and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of either squad this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the result.
Over the last four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to almost a joke in the process. Nine games into the present campaign it has become clear that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.
THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP
While a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being suffered by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far lost 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this term under their manager. The team's boss has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who can't stop checking his schedule to find out how many time are remaining until his contract ends, and awoke this morning to learn the answer is 246.
"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure at the club," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is there to try and reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."
EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR
Given the dreadful start to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could typically be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own inability to start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the mix. Despite being obliged to operate with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as putting in £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts sole use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.
In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to unearth unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed cheering each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly realized the bookies had greatly underestimated his side's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots accordingly.
COACH'S REACTION
"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded 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 might change perceptions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and certainly physically we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that this club is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can win.
