The Reasons Heart of Midlothian's Landmark Title Tilt Shouldn't Come as a Surprise.

HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole unexpected aspect of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback observers appeared when news of the outcome and its impact for the top of the table emerged. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the league and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been tracking the progress of both team this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the result.

Over the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to something of a joke in the process. Nine games into the present season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – could be ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While a lot of the focus in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at their stadium has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far dropped a considerable number from nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the distant look of a individual who can't stop consulting his schedule to find out how many time are remaining until his deal ends, and awoke this day to learn the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful beginning to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the mix. In spite of being forced to operate with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the money and expertise of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership equation. In addition to investing £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts exclusive use of his top secret data-driven Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his team's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his team's latest victory, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. 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 certainly in fitness we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that somebody other than the traditional powers can win.