🔗 Share this article The Reasons Hearts' Landmark Title Tilt Isn't as a Surprise. JAMBOS BLAZING Maybe the only unexpected aspect of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback observers appeared when news of the outcome and its consequences for the summit of the standings circulated. While this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos top of the league and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of either team this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the final score. For each of the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the current season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm iron is freezing cold. THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP Although much of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been able to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have already lost 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a man who can't stop checking his schedule to find out how many days are remaining until his contract 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 here," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for any kind of a title fight. "So the motivation is present to try and reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time." NEW CHALLENGER Given the horrific beginning to the season being experienced by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has entered the mix. Despite being obliged to operate with a budget that is not just a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and expertise of a renowned businessman to the SPL equation. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool. In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each goal with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his side's prospects of defeating the struggling champions, and filled his boots accordingly. MANAGER'S RESPONSE "I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's most recent success, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for those on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. Technically, we appear in a strong position, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, this is not a situation that this club is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the wonderful, data-driven truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that somebody other than Celtic or Rangers can win.