The Reasons Hearts' Historic Championship Challenge Shouldn't Come as a Shock.
HEARTS ON FIRE
Maybe the sole unexpected aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback people seemed when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the standings circulated. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the table and eight points clear of their rivals, was earth-shattering in scale, no one who has been tracking the progress of either team this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.
For each of the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the present campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – 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 iron is freezing cold.
THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP
While much of the focus in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have so far dropped a considerable number from nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly checking his schedule to find out how many time are remaining until his contract 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 doubted his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."
EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR
Given the dreadful start to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be anticipated to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the fray. In spite of being forced to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts sole use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.
In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect 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 modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his side's chances of beating the struggling champions, and placed large bets as a result.
MANAGER'S REACTION
"In my opinion it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his team's latest success, their eighth win in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we look in a strong position, and certainly physically we look in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can win.
