The Reasons Heart of Midlothian's Historic Championship Challenge Isn't as a Shock.

HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole surprising element of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback observers seemed when news of the outcome and its impact for the top of the table circulated. While this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos top of the league and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, nobody who has been following the progress of either squad this season will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

Over the last four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to something of a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the current campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While a lot of the focus in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been able to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have already dropped 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a individual who constantly checking his Google calendar to find out how many days are remaining until his contract expires, and woke up this morning to discover the answer 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 questioned his appetite for any kind of a title fight. "So the motivation is there to try and reverse the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful start to the campaign being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could typically be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to start strongly, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the fray. In spite of being obliged to operate with a war-chest that is not just a small portion of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have added the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club exclusive use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his side's chances of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said bearded Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his team's most recent success, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It might change perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might actually have a championship battle that somebody other than the traditional powers can claim.