Perhaps the only unexpected element of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback observers seemed when news of the outcome and its impact for the top of the standings emerged. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Jambos leading of the league and eight points ahead of their rivals, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been following the progress of both squad this season will have been in the least astonished by the final score.
For each of the last 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to almost a punchline in the process. Several matches into the current campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.
Although much of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been able to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have already dropped a considerable number from nine league games this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a man who constantly checking his Google calendar to find out how many time are remaining until his deal expires, and awoke this morning to learn the number is over two hundred.
"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he told the media following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to attempt to reverse the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."
Considering the horrific start to the campaign being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his players could normally be anticipated to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. In spite of being forced to operate with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have added the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.
In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen celebrating each score with the gusto of a person who had likely realized the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his side's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets accordingly.
"In my opinion it's a statement win," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his team's most recent victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "It might be for others on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. In terms of skill, we look in a good place, and definitely physically we look in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." No, Derek, it is not. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that somebody other than the traditional powers can claim.
Marlon Vance is a seasoned sports analyst with over a decade of experience in betting markets, specializing in data-driven predictions and strategy development.
