The Reasons Hearts' Landmark Title Tilt Shouldn't Come as a Surprise.

JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole unexpected aspect of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which surprised people seemed when news of the result and its consequences for the summit of the table circulated. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the table and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, no one who has been tracking the progress of both team this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the result.

Over the last four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to something of a joke in the process. Several matches into the present campaign 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 prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

Although a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been able to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far lost 10 points from nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly checking his schedule to find out how many time are remaining until his deal ends, and awoke this morning to discover the number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time here," he informed the media following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to try and reverse the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful beginning to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his players could normally be expected to get away with their own inability to start strongly, 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 small portion of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. In addition to putting in £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided the club sole use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to discover 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 their home venue on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed cheering each goal with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his team's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's latest success, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for others on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, this is not a situation that this club is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in many years, the Scottish game might genuinely have a championship battle that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.