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

HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole surprising element of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback people appeared when news of the result and its consequences for the top of the standings emerged. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the league and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been tracking the progress of both squad this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the result.

For each of the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, turning fitba to something of a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the current season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to strike while the Old Firm iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

Although much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being suffered by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at their stadium has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been able to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have so far dropped 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a man who can't stop checking his schedule to see how many days are remaining until his contract ends, and woke up this morning to discover the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure at the club," he told the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to try and flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful beginning to the season being experienced by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be anticipated to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the fray. In spite of being obliged to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the investment and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect 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 lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his team's prospects of defeating the struggling champions, and filled his boots as a result.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his team's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It might change perceptions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have given us. Technically, we appear in a strong position, and definitely physically we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that this club is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the first time in ages, the Scottish game might genuinely have a championship battle that a team besides the traditional powers can claim.