Why Hearts' Historic Title Tilt Shouldn't Come as a Surprise.
HEARTS ON FIRE
Maybe the only surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback people appeared when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the table emerged. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the table and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was earth-shattering in nature, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of either squad this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.
For each of the last four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, turning the beautiful game to almost a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the current campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.
THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP
Although much of the focus in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' comparatively less severe decline has been allowed to worsen below the radar. The reigning champions have already dropped a considerable number from nine fixtures this term under their manager. The team's boss has developed the distant look of a individual who can't stop checking his Google calendar to see how many days are left until his deal expires, and woke up this day to learn the answer is over two hundred.
"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he told reporters following the loss, after they had questioned his appetite for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to try and reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."
NEW CHALLENGER
Considering the dreadful beginning to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could typically be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the mix. In spite of being obliged to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.
In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis 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 modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen cheering each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly realized the bookies had massively misjudged his side's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets as a result.
COACH'S RESPONSE
"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his side's most recent success, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It might validate opinions that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and certainly physically we look 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 first time in many years, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can win.
