The Reasons Heart of Midlothian's Historic Championship Challenge Shouldn't Come as a Shock.

JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only surprising aspect of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback people seemed when news of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the standings emerged. While this convincing victory at their home ground, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the table and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was seismic in nature, no one who has been following the fortunes of both team this season 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 football between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a joke in the process. Several matches into the present season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although a lot of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being suffered by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at their stadium has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been able to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far dropped a considerable number from nine fixtures this season under their manager. The team's boss has developed the distant look of a man who constantly consulting his Google calendar to see how many time are remaining until his deal expires, and awoke this day to learn the number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he told reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is present to attempt to reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the horrific beginning to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be anticipated to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. In spite of being obliged to operate with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the investment and expertise of a renowned businessman to the SPL equation. In addition to putting in £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to unearth hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed celebrating each goal with the gusto of a man who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his side's prospects of beating the struggling champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's most recent victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we look in a good place, and certainly physically we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." No, Derek, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might actually have a title race that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can win.