The Reasons Heart of Midlothian's Landmark Championship Challenge Isn't as a Surprise.

HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only unexpected element of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback people appeared when news of the result and its impact for the top of the standings circulated. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos leading of the table and eight points clear of Celtic, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been following the fortunes of both team this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

Over the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish football between them, turning the beautiful game to something of a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the present campaign it has become clear that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be ready to strike while the Old Firm iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

Although much of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at their stadium has meant that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far lost 10 points from nine fixtures this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly checking his schedule to find out how many time are remaining until his contract ends, and woke up this morning to learn the answer is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he informed reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is present to try and reverse 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 the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his players could typically be expected to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has joined the mix. In spite of being obliged to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have added the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts exclusive use of his top secret data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect 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 exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a modest car. Seen at their home venue on Sunday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen cheering each goal with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly noticed the bookies had greatly misjudged his side's prospects of beating the struggling title holders, and filled his boots as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said bearded Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's most recent victory, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for others on the periphery. It might change perceptions. It may confirm views that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. Technically, we look in a good place, and definitely physically we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.