The Reasons Hearts' Landmark Championship Challenge Shouldn't Come as a Shock.

HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole unexpected aspect of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback observers seemed when reports of the result and its impact for the summit of the table circulated. While this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the league and eight points clear of their rivals, was seismic in nature, no one who has been tracking the progress of either squad this campaign will have been in the least shocked by the result.

Over the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, turning fitba to something of a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the present season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although a lot of the focus in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been able to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have already dropped a considerable number from their opening nine league games this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who can't stop checking his Google calendar to find out how many days are remaining until his contract ends, and awoke this morning to learn the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he told the media following the loss, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is there to try and flip the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific start to the campaign being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own failure to start strongly, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has joined the fray. Despite being forced to function with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as investing £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had likely realized the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his side's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his team's most recent success, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and definitely physically we look in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Of course, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the glorious, data-driven truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that a team besides the traditional powers can claim.