The Reasons Hearts' Historic Championship Challenge Isn't as a Surprise.

HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole surprising element of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback people appeared when reports of the result and its impact for the summit of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the league and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in nature, no one who has been following the progress of both squad this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

Over the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to almost a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the current season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be ready to strike while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While a lot of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been able to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far lost a considerable number from nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the distant look of a individual who can't stop checking his schedule to see how many time are remaining until his deal expires, and awoke this day to discover the answer is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time at the club," he told the media following the loss, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is there to try and reverse the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the horrific beginning to the season being experienced by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be expected to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the mix. In spite of being obliged to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the investment and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL equation. In addition to putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, 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. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his side's prospects of defeating 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 the head coach after his team's most recent success, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we look in a strong position, and certainly physically we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, data-driven truth is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might actually have a title race that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.