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

JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the sole unexpected aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback people appeared when reports of the result and its impact for the summit of the standings emerged. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos leading of the league and eight points ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of both team this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the result.

Over the last 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the current campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

Although much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been able to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have so far lost a considerable number from their opening nine league games this season under their manager. The team's boss has developed the thousand-yard stare of a individual who can't stop consulting his Google calendar to see how many time are left until his contract ends, and woke up this morning to discover the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure at the club," he informed reporters following the defeat, 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. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the horrific beginning to the season being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his players could typically be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. Despite being forced to function with a war-chest that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each score with the gusto of a man who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his team's chances of defeating the struggling champions, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager the head coach after his side's latest success, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have given us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and definitely physically we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the wonderful, data-driven truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might genuinely have a title race that somebody besides the traditional powers can claim.