Maybe the only unexpected aspect of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback observers seemed when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the table emerged. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the league and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was earth-shattering in scale, no one who has been following the progress of either squad this season will have been in the least shocked by the final score.
For each of the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, turning the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the present season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to make their move while the Old Firm iron is at its weakest.
While much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have already lost a considerable number from nine league games this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly checking his Google calendar to find out how many time are remaining until his deal ends, and awoke this day to learn the number is 246.
"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he told the media following the loss, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is present to try and flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."
Given the horrific beginning to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the fray. In spite of being obliged to function 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 investment and expertise of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics player identification system.
In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to discover hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at their home venue on Sunday sporting a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen cheering each score with the gusto of a person who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his side's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots accordingly.
"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's latest success, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have provided us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and definitely physically we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the wonderful, data-driven truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, Scottish football might actually have a championship battle that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can win.
Astrophysicist and space technology consultant with 15 years of experience in lunar mission planning and research.
