Perhaps the only unexpected aspect of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how surprised observers seemed when reports of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the standings emerged. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos top of the league and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was earth-shattering in nature, nobody who has been following the fortunes of either team this season will have been in the least shocked by the result.
Over the last 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to almost a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the current season it has become apparent that Hearts – 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 iron is freezing cold.
While a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been able to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have so far lost 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the distant look of a individual who constantly consulting his Google calendar to see how many days are left until his deal ends, and awoke this day to learn the answer is 246.
"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure here," he told the media following the loss, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to try and flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."
Given the horrific start to the season being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could normally be expected to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the mix. Despite being obliged to function with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as putting in £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.
In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a modest car. Seen at their home venue on matchday sporting 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 realized the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his team's prospects of defeating the struggling title holders, and filled his boots accordingly.
"In my opinion it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his side's latest success, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the lads have provided us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and definitely physically we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the glorious, data-driven truth is that for the first time in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that somebody other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.
Elena Vance is a digital strategist with over a decade of experience in UK business consulting, specializing in technology-driven growth solutions.