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

HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole surprising aspect of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback people seemed when reports of the result and its impact for the top of the table circulated. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the league and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was seismic in scale, no one who has been following the fortunes of both team this season will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

For each of the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to something of a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the present campaign it has become clear that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

While much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been able to fester unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far lost 10 points from their opening nine league games this term under their manager. The team's boss has acquired the distant look of a man who can't stop consulting his Google calendar to see how many days are left until his deal expires, and awoke this morning to learn the answer is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he informed the media following the loss, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to try and flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful beginning to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could typically be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own failure to start strongly, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has entered the mix. In spite of being forced to operate with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and expertise of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club sole use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed cheering each goal with the gusto of a person who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his team's chances of defeating the struggling champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his team's most recent victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "It might be for others on the periphery. It might change perceptions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. Technically, we appear in a strong position, and definitely physically we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that this club is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the first time in ages, the Scottish game might genuinely have a championship battle that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.