Why Hearts' Historic Title Tilt Shouldn't Come as a Surprise.
JAMBOS BLAZING
Perhaps the sole surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised people seemed when reports of the result and its consequences for the summit of the table circulated. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos top of the table and eight points clear of their rivals, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been tracking the progress of either squad this season will have been in the least shocked by the final score.
Over the last 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish football between them, turning fitba to something of a joke in the process. Several matches into the present campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.
THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP
While a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been able to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have already dropped 10 points from nine league games this term under their manager. The team's boss has acquired the distant look of a individual who can't stop checking his Google calendar to find out how many time are left until his contract ends, and awoke this day to discover the number is 246.
"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is present to try and reverse the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."
NEW CHALLENGER
Considering the dreadful beginning to the season being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his players could typically be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the mix. In spite of being forced to operate with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the investment and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL mix. As well as putting in £10m during the off-season, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts sole use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.
In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each goal with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his team's prospects of defeating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.
COACH'S REACTION
"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his side's latest victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and definitely in fitness we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, it's not a position that this club is accustomed to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.
